


Whirlpool

by M_sanity



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Arguing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Injury Recovery, Keith’s a mess and lance isn’t helping, M/M, Merpeople, Minor Violence, Protectiveness, Science Experiments, Slight torture, Violence, merman Keith, pinning, prisoner lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-07-02 20:14:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15803784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_sanity/pseuds/M_sanity
Summary: Silence. It’s funny isn’t it? You wish for nothing but silence until you have it. Then all you want is the loud ruckus of your siblings, the yelling of your mama that dinner was ready. That’s not a luxury all have though. Now you don’t think of the water as silent, yet there he stood staring at the gentle waves that roll against the edge of the boat. He wished for nothing more than for this  night to come to an end. But even the calmest waves can quickly turn to storm. The most uneventful and dull lives can be swept up in a swirling pool that will mix up everything you knew. Bringing you deeper and deeper into the whirlpool.





	1. Chapter 1

“Prisoner number 113271” the rough voice said sternly. “Do you know why you were called here?”

Lance was a relatively normal boy. He had a degree in marine biology, and was rather smart, even if he was being a smart ass. “No, of course not,” his response seemed so quiet compared to the booming voices of the guards.

“You studied marine biology at a highly respected college, this makes you of value to my team,” she said before adding, “But, don’t think I can’t still have you replaced.”

Lance’s snort caught everyone by surprise, “What makes you think for a moment that I would ever, even for a tick, help you.” Lance was prepared to be yelled at, hell he was even ready to be punished for speaking so rudely to a guard. He, however, was not prepared for the smirk. The devilish smirk that meant nothing but trouble.

“Leverage, my dear, leverage,” Lance hated the way my dear had rolled off her tongue like honey, none the less he asked, “what leverage.”

Her grin only grew, “You are pretty close to that mechanic and the other one oh yeah, the programmer.” She circled him, “You help me and I will insure their safety, but failed to comply will lead to them being severely punished.” Her smirk was playful, yet her eyes were stone cold serious.

Lance realized quickly he had no real choice. “Fine,” the mumble was hardly audible, however the words sealed the fate of his friends and himself.

Lance returned to the cell he shared with Hunk. Unfortunately for Lance Hunk had not returned yet, so lance was left all alone. Lance hated being alone, it left his mind to wander to dark places. All be it he was a prisoner he tried his best to remain happy, and did his best to keep his best friends out of the dumps. Hunk had actually managed to get a girlfriend while still being a prisoner. She was sweet from what Lance had seen of her, shy and quiet the two never got in trouble. Pidge on the other hand was the opposite. She was constantly in trouble for something. Sometimes she hacked computers and changed her schedule, other times she would hack the guards computers and change their shifts. The only reason she was still around was due to her amazing technological know how. Lance had studied marine biology, and he was extremely smart when it came to the ocean. He loved the ocean, everything was exciting to him. He loved the idea of the unknown, and he had an amazing imagination. He liked letting his mind slip, imaging what all could be in the deep blue sea. The crazy fish that might exist— A loud snap brought him back.

“Hey Lance, you alright?” 

The concern was obvious, “Of course buddy, I was just thinking,” Lance smiled a gentle smile. 

Hunk smiled back, “What did general J’re want?” He asked sitting on the small cot next to Lance’s. 

Lance snorted, “Shes crazy, but I guess it’s not to bad.” Lance shrugged and continued, “She wants me to set up radar and watch for a, and I quote, half human half fish monster.”

Hunk sat there and glances out the barred window that showed the vast ocean, “Do you think they really exist?” 

Lance chuckled, “Hunk, my man, you know there are no such things as mermaid, right?” 

Hunk shrugged, “I mean there’s no evidence to disprove them.”

Lance crossed his arms, “really Hunk, I can’t believe you.” 

Hunk chuckled, “Whatever man, Just get some sleep, because regardless you have a long day of staring at a monitor tomorrow.” Lance smiled softly, he was glad Hunk was here with him he was the best friend anyone could ask for.

The soft ticking was enough to drive one to insanity. Lance was beyond bored, and regretting accepting this stupid deal. Yeah, sure, he wanted his friends to be safe, but at the cost of his sanity? What was he talking about, his friends meant the world to him. 

He growled, “This is beyond pointless, Nothing is going to ever happen!” He stood up abruptly, “Hell mermaids don’t even-“ 

he was cut off by a loud beeping. He looked around, his face fell towards the radar that was ever so slowly scanning.

“No way,” he gasped and quickly pulled up his seat to examine the radar. 

He couldn’t believe it, on the screen in front of him a huge fish was swimming towards camera 72. The dot seemed to speed up, before he had time to even call anyone else to the room. The the figure swam by. Then stopped on something, and sitting right in front of camera 72 was a long reddish tail. Wrapped around the end of tail was two bracelets, they weren’t particularly flashy, but instead had a modest sense of beauty to them. Lance was in awe, he went to hit the button, but stopped short of it. What was he doing? For surely he was seeing things, and that thing was not a mermaid. But what if there was a slim chance it was, he didn’t tell, and his friends got hurt? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He gulped and hit the button, besides what harm could possibly come from it?

 

It wasn’t like Keith had never seen a ship before, he had lots of them. Although he had never seen one quite as large as this one was. Sure he has seen whale hunters before and their oddly large ships, but this one was a little different than a whale hunters ship. Of course curiosity got the best of him, he swam closer. Part of him knew Shiro would be furious about it, yet that didn’t stop him. Maybe it was fate, maybe keith thought, just maybe I’ll be able to see what’s on that ship. However the booming voice echoed through the waves, 

“KEITH!” 

Keith groaned, couldn’t he escape even for a couple hours?

“I’m fine Shiro, see?” He said diving to Shiro’s depth in the water. Keith hated being babied, and Shiro, well he is the king of babying.

Shiro chuckled,” I know but you get so frustrated it’s funny.”

Keith rolled his eyes “whatever, lets just head home.” Shiro smiled and began to swim away from the boat. Keith followed when there was a sudden splash, then crying.

 

“Drop successful General J’re.” One of the many faceless guards said. 

Lance had been handed a syringe and been put in charge of sedating the mer once brought aboard. However Lance was not alright with this, mostly due to his own fear of injury. Lance stared at the water where the sound box of sorts had been dropped.

“nce-Lance-LANCE?”

The voice pulled him from his trance and he looked down at his friend Pidge, “yeah?” She sighed, “you didn’t listen to a thing I said, huh?”   
Lance looked down, “No, no I was- I just- uh think you should repeat it, you know just to be sure.” 

Pidge pointed down towards the water, “this device will, well hopefully will, imitate the sound of a mer in distress” she then grinned, “I used different sea creatures crying, distressed, and injured sounds to hopefully make something good enough to fool it.” Pidge smiled triumphantly as she too watched the water's surface.

“So, this will lure it up?” Lance asked glancing to the water. 

“That’s what I’m hoping for, then once its on board you inject it with a sedative and we get it into a tank.” She said, eyes wandering to the guards and other prisoners setting up the net. 

Lance felt guilty. Should he feel this bad? I mean it was just an animal right? Plus he was helping his friends. However, guilt crept into Lances’ self conscious, he couldn’t help but feel terrible for the damage to this poor creature he knew was imminent.

 

The sound was faint from where keith was, but it made his skin crawl. He turned to Shiro, who had registered the noise, but didn’t seem too concerned. 

Keith felt his heart sink, “Shiro, the sound,” he whispered. “Shiro it’s hurt, or dying. I don’t know which, but it sounds young.” 

Keith voice dripped with empathy. Shiro only glanced at keith before looking away, “This is not our problem, Keith.”

“The hell it ain’t,” Keith snarled. “How can you not care? What if it’s caught? What if it’s stuck or it’s group is being attacked?” Keith looked back to the direction of the sound. Shiro simply tried to ignore keith. He knew keith was only looking to help, but Shiro knew better. But the next question made Shiro freeze dead in the water.

“What if it’s all alone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is not so great but hopefully you all like this and will enjoy it! I’ll do my best to get chapter 2 out soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of Shiro and Keith’s backstory is revealed. Lance is a guilty boy. Keith is not pleased.

A soft cry, but where was it coming from? It got louder and louder, until the crying turned to sobbing, then sobbing turned to wheezing. Shiro was determined to find and help whoever it was. Shiro had watched the small shoal become separated and picked off, guilt had hit Shiro like a boat. He needed to help, and he wished he had done more. Shiro then stumbled upon a small mer. He had dark black hair, and bright purple eyes that illuminated the surrounding water. He wouldn’t last long on his own, this he knew. The boy had a reddish maroon colored tail that stood out in the waters. Shiro knew well these waters weren’t safe, shark mer prowled the area in search of anything they could eat. Shiro knew this well, he himself was a predator. 

He approached the small child, “H-hey, um you alright?”

The child whipped around in the water and faced Shiro with fear. Shiro knew he had to be intimidating to this poor kid, but nonetheless he smiled softly as he spoke, “I want to help, do you have any family?” 

The boy nodded, “mom,” he stated and looked around, “I can’t find her, she’s gone.” 

The panic in his voice was startling to Shiro who, all too well, knew the same pain. On one hand he knew the kids mother had probably been killed in the attack, but on the slim chance she didn’t he had no intention on killing the hope.

“Well, I’ll help you look.” Shiro smiled and held out his hand, “I’m Shiro, what’s your name?” The boy hesitated but took hold of the sharks mer’s hand,

“It’s Keith.”

 

General J’re stood behind Lance and Pidge as they all waited. The wait was killing Lance, the more time passed the more guilty he felt. 

“It shouldn’t be long,” Pidge reassured, although he didn’t know who she was trying to convince, Lance or herself. J’re would have a cow if Pidge’s device revealed no results, and that scared Pidge. Lance put a comforting hand on her shoulder and watched, after all how much more could they do?

Hunk soon approached his presence was lightening the mood already. “Ya nervous Pidge?” He asked looking down to met her eyes.

She adjusted her glasses before speaking, “Of course not,” she lied through a smirk, “Lance is the one who’s gotta deal with it.”

Lance gulped softly, “No need to remind me Pidge.”

 

“Shiro are you even listening to yourself?” Keith said, and pointed behind him, “someone or something needs help.”

Shiro turned his back to Keith, “It’s too risky, plus it could easily be a siren” he stated matter of factly.

“Shiro-“

“Why don’t you go check it out then?” Shiro blurted out, which he regretted the moment he saw a grin appear on his little brother’s face. 

“What an amazing idea, I think I will do that,” he turned to swim towards the noise. Shiro crossed his arms and refused to give any sign that he was interested. “Oh, you know I just hope it’s not something being attacked sharks,” Keith added and swam off. The guilt and panic welled up quicker then he would ever admit,

“WAIT! I’m coming too- slow down- WAIT!” 

Keith came to a stop, he smirked triumphantly. “I just don’t want any repeats of what happened the last time sharks were involved,” Shiro attempted to justify, only to be meet with a snicker and a tongue being stuck out.   
The two approached the distressed thing? Keith was confused as hell as he went to poke at it, 

“CAREFUL,” came Shiro’s warning, “You don’t know what it is.”

Keith retorted, “well, what do you think it is Mr. high and mighty?” He asked circling the floating box. 

Shiro pondered, this sort of thing seemed so familiar to him. Then it hit, “Keith, we need to get out of here now!” He said the urgency was extremely present in his tone, but Keith heard a slight sense of panic as well.

“Why? Shiro what is this thing?” He questioned. Shiro’s eyes had burned the shade of bright yellow, his pupils turn to slits, 

“I have no clue, but it is human, and human means trouble.” 

His words were sharp and Keith got the point quickly. “Dive down and fast, follow me.” Now Keith was a fast swimmer and he had a strong tail, but Shiro, when in emergency mode, was quicker. Shiro had dove so fast Keith could see only his silhouette.

“Wait! Shiro!” Keith dove to catch up, but then he was hit by a painstaking force as it pierced his tail. 

He cried out and saw the water begin to get dark with his own blood. Panic started to get the best of him and he thrashed violently, making the wound larger, 

“no no no, Shiro! Help please,” the words were panicked and Keith wasn’t sure if Shiro had heard any of it. 

Luckily Shiro did hear, but he was so deep in the depth by the time he got to where Keith was, a net had been dropped and it had carried him far too close to the water's surface. Shiro froze, this couldn’t be happening, not again. Fear immobilized him and he could only watch as Keith breached the surface, leaving in his wake a dark trail of thick blood.  
The air stung Keith’s lungs, and he cried out. HIs tail was dripping blood onto his body and, oh yeah, the God damn thing hurt! The sharp object was lodged in his tail and he wanted nothing more than to die. He thrashed more, attempting to ignore the pain that was making it harder and harder to move. People were shouting commands, and pointing to places aboard the large ship, although, he could care less, all he wanted was to get out of the net. His gills were sore and he was panting heavily, not used to the dry air. He could feel his chest tighten and every gulp simply brought pain. He stopped struggling, he had tired himself out in such a little time, and he needed to stop breathing so heavily. As he gathered his surrounds slowly above the water, he realized what boat this was, and he was furious. He bared teeth at the people who brought the net onto the boat, he snarled, growled, and tried to inflict as much harm as possible, just to free himself of the net, to no avail. Then his shining purple eyes were met with a pair of soft, vibrant blue eyes, and they were pitying Keith. The boy pulled out another sharp object, Keith hissed and did what he could to struggle. The boy made a shushing sound, as if to comfort him, then said in a soft tone, 

“I’m so sorry about this.” 

The sharp thing was plunged into Keith’s arm, before he could even swat the hand away. It didn’t hurt per say, but it wasn’t heaven either.

“Shiro, please” he whispered.

Keith started to feel tired, then nothing.

 

The general laughed triumphantly, “Zarkon will be beyond please once we arrive with this beast to present.”

Hunk, who had the joyous position of standing next to her responded, “Yeah, and maybe he will be so pleased, he will let it go!” Hunk smiled, only to get a dead stare from the general. He quickly looked forward and mumbled, “sorry.”

Lance walked beside Pidge as they helped carry the sedated fish to a holding tank, at least until the reached the shore and got him a proper tank. Lance tried his best to be gentle, since you know, he now had a sizable wound than no one seemed to care about. No one else seemed to interested in it’s safety, the other guards and prisoners hastily tossed it over the edge of the small tank. Lance visibly flinched watching blood swirl around. 

Pidge had a soft expression on her face, “Is it gonna be ok?” She asked placing a hand against the glass. 

Lance honestly didn’t know, he wanted to believe that it would all be ok, he really didn’t know. “Pidge, get a medical kit,” he said softly, turning towards the tank, “let’s try to make it ok.” 

 

Shiro was felt lost. This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t. Shiro knew better than to attempt to swim into the heart of Altea, it was suicide. The Altean’s were a city of fancy, frilly menfolk, who disliked outsiders. Shiro had actually met his lover right outside of the Altean’s territory, but there was no time to think about that, Keith was gone and he needed help. However, luckily for Shiro he just so happened to be good friends with a very powerful mermaid, princess Allura, heir to the Altean thrown.

 

About an hour of painstakingly attempting to stop the bleeding, they finally managed. It was sloppy and probably wouldn’t hold long, but who cared, they were doing their very best. Hunk had stopped in too! Although he wasn’t much help, due to him refusing to help look at the wound. Lance watched as the mer sat cramped at the bottom of the tank, head lolled to the side, and jet black hair floating around it’s face. Biting his lip Lance sat beside the tank, waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2! I hope y’all are enjoying this, I plan to update chapters as soon as I can! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to seeing your responses!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith starts to understand his situation. Shiro looks for help in an old friend.

When Keith came to, he was pissed. His head was spinning, and he was having a hard time trying to gather his whereabouts. He decided to try to swim up, that however, was an awful idea. Pain shot through his body, and forced a scream out of him. Looking down he saw what was left of, what he assumes, was some sort of wrap. He groaned, every movement hurt. Slowly sinking to the bottom he finally started to realize some odd traits of these waters. For starters the water felt odd, thick salt particles seem to stick to him. It didn’t help that it was hurting his gills. There was also the fact that he could see an end to the water, that’s not how it’s supposed to be. He inched towards it, one painful movement after another, until he could touch wall of sorts. He stared at it, then, as quickly as he forgot where he was, he remembered the events that had transpired. Now, Keith was truly pissed. How could the humans, as Shiro called them from his many stories, do this? He was a living creature, after all. It shouldn’t surprise him as much as it did, stories of the humans greed and unforgiving nature was a common thing. He just never thought it would happen to him. Then another thought popped up, Shiro. Damn it, he had promised, he promised he would never leave him, but here they are. He drew in a sharp breath, then exhaled. Keith knew it wasn’t Shiro’s fault, he really did, but he was just so groggy. The water was way too hot, not to mention how bright the sun was. Keith wasn’t used to the brightness, him and Shiro spent most of the time in deep waters. Keith just wanted to sink lower into the cold, but sadly he was at the bottom, and it was still way too hot.   
As the mid day started to fade slowly to early dawn, he started to become more aware of his surroundings. Humans would walk near and around the “cage”, as Keith liked to think it was called, and started to become more active when he was active. As the sun had begun to fall, and things got darker, plus, the water also cooled down, not much, but Keith would take anything at this point. He stayed at the bottom, not caring to give the humans any advantages they could use against him. Sadly, things got even more lively above the water, and Keith noticed humans closer to the water than they should have been. He watched as the humans dropped into the water, well he thought they were humans. These ones had on large sciencey helmets, and they appeared to have some sort of fins, but they weren’t connected. They got closer, but Keith refused to move. He bared his sharp teeth and hissed, a low sound that vibrated the helmets. This didn’t scare them off, though, if they had known what it meant perhaps they would have. They didn’t seem scared of Keith in particular, maybe more wary of his presence than anything else? Either way Keith snarled, using everything he had he lunged at the closest one, and once he had a hold of it’s leg, he bit down, hard. He could hear the human inside the suit scream, and the bubbles leaving the mask, he didn’t let go, and he wasn’t planning on it either. The other human held out a rod and smack Keith’s wound hard. Keith shrieked, feeling the blood spilling from his body, he reached down to hold his injury. The two swam up quickly, the injuries one with the help of the one who smacked Keith. Keith watched them exit the water, he had scared them off and he was satisfied with himself, so he went back to the bottom. The blood gushing from his tail was throbbing, all he wanted was for it to stop hurting and heal. The next thing he knew, a long rod with a wire attached was thrust into the water, it tightened around his neck, and Keith didn’t have time to react. He was yanked upwards, due to his injured tail, he really couldn’t do much, but be dragged to the surface. He was met with the familiar pain of the dry air stinging his gills. Keith was shoved against the ground, still warm from the sun’s hot rays. He hissed as his face was held roughly to the ground, all Keith knew was it wasn’t grass, and it hurt. Then in front of him was the same blue eyes from the day he was captured. 

He placed a hand on Keith’s back and spoke softly, “Shhhh, the less squirming, the better for you.” This statement, although Keith knew the boy was probably right, made him want to rebel all the more.

Keith jerked from his touch and growled, looking for a place of weakness to attack. His midsection wasn’t exposed, but Keith knew if he got an arm free he could do some damage. He felt hands on his tail, and began to freak. They were holding him down, while others messed with the bleeding wound. He slowly wiggled his left arm free, then like a flash of lightning he struck, just nearly missing the boy. His arms were then pinned rather quickly, and he saw them start to bring over strange instruments. His body started to jerk, it was getting harder, and harder to just breathe. The boy seemed to get the message, and held out a bottle. The blue eyed boy sprayed his gills with the water, wasn’t much, but Keith would settle for now. He felt something sharp pierce his tail again, so he thrashed as hard as he could, it hurt, but he managed to knock some hands off. Soon those hands were replaced by more and more hands, making it hard to move at all. Mr. blue eyes continued to spray his gills.   
Then, there was a tall shadow lurking over him,

“What a catch,” she said looking over Keith. “Although, Zarkon and his wife will be very displeased with the damages, I think it’s still presentable.”

Her words made Keith shiver, presentable? What were their plans for him? The woman spoke again, this time directing her words towards Keith,

“Now based on the injury one of my divers received, I’ll take it you won’t go down without a fight.” She then chuckled and knelt down, and if Keith wasn’t restrained at the moment he would have lunged for her throat. She held an odd mask of sorts in her hand, “this should keep you under control while we fix this bloody disaster.” She snickered.

He felt two pairs of hands hold his head still, try as he might, he couldn’t shake the hands free. The women placed a muzzle on him and tightened it, unnecessarily tight. Keith hissed and wanted to pull at the straps, to slice them off to do anything so loosen them. Then he felt his sharp claws being clipped, it stung and he couldn’t do anything about it. His body was being held down by so many humans, and suddenly all Keith felt was fear. He let out a whimper, he felt beyond violated, his tail hurt, his hands now hurt, his face hurt, then he heard two snapping sounds. The bracelet. He felt his heart shatter, and his eyes began to tear up, the urge to cry was hard to hold back. Mr.blue eyes saw the pain that was evident everywhere, he gave him a look of pity, then felt his hand doing tiny circles on his upper back. Keith hated everything. He hated the humans holding him down, he hated the ones who were “fixing” his tail, he hated the ones who clipped his nails, he hates the woman who muzzled him, and he hated how comforting Mr.blue eyes gentle gesture was.

 

Shiro had a small angelfish with a shell holding a message for Allura. Shiro had stated to meet him on the edge of altean territory at around dusk. He knew it would be difficult for the princess to sneak out, but the darkness would provide cover for both of them. He was starting to get worried, it was almost completely dark plus he had to hide from two different partols. His hope was starting to dim, when he thought of trying to sneak in. Thankfully and tug at his dorsal fin caught his attention, 

“Hey shark breathe,” Allura’s voice was smooth like honey and always a comfort. 

“Allura! I was worried you weren’t going to make it.” He said watching her circle him. 

“Well the shell did say urgent, so what’s up?” 

Shiro chest felt heavy fast, “It’s Keith, a huge ship nagged him and pulled him on board,” he paused, then added, “I froze up before I could help him.” 

Allura looked like she was trying to process the information given, yet she still seemed confused. “Where did it happen?” She asked, and handed Shiro a map shell, used to project mapped areas for easy storage.

Shiro looked until his eyes settled on, what the Altean’s called, Razor Ridge. Shiro pointed, “Here Razor Ridge,” he said, and then pointed to the large open edge that lead to the deeper waters and less rocks, then looked up feeling weak, “that’s where the caught him.” 

Allura pushed Shiro back and popped her cloak hood as they hid from another patrol, “What kind of ship?”She asked softly. 

It took him a moment to recall, “It was a huge ship, I don’t know exactly the function though.” 

Allura nodded, “ The next dawn I will head to our collection of maps and learning shells, maybe my father even has some old human things I can look at,” she mumbled the last part.

Before Shiro could question, she looked up and smiled softly, “Here take this,” she said handing him the small glass bubble. “I’ll call you and let you know of any updates, but until then maybe you can snoop around and try to find something I could enchant, maybe we could help him via magic,” she gave Shiro a hug and turned to swim away, 

“Next time Shiro, don’t wait until something tragic happens for us to talk,” she grinned brightly and swam off. 

Shiro chuckled softly he would keep that in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, ok so I’ve Now updated it twice today, but what can I say? I love writing this and I hope you all enjoy reading it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith hates everyone, Lance is going to make him be friendly, and Shiro is just having a rough time

Lance was horrified. Medic’s were working hastily on stitching the mer’s tail. Blood was pooling on the concrete, one of the medic’s hands were coated in the sticky substance. It upset Lance, he winced seeing it. So he rested his hand on the back of the mer boy, and he felt the light trembling that ran up the poor boy. Gulping his fear down he pressed softly into his upper back, rubbing gentle, comforting circles. Although he felt empathetic towards the mer, he also knew his attitude would be a huge problem. Lance heard the soft whimper, then saw the rough way they cut his nails far back, resulting in blood beginning to drip. He heard someone order, 

“Cut ‘em off” then two snapping sounds. 

The mer seemed to feel it too, because his eyes widened and Lance could see tears pricking at his eyes. All Lance could do was attempt to comfort this poor creature. Lance could feel the hatred rolling off the merman. He kept spaying his gills, and tried to whisper relaxing things,

“Hey, it’s going to be ok.” 

It was a lie, Lance knew it. The Boy would be tortured, questioned, poked and prodded at, and eventually put as a trophy in the aquarium. Yet he felt killing this things hope was cruel and unfair. Lance saw Pidge approaching him, and he stood up. 

“Lance, they stitched him up sloppy and hurried, but it will hold,” she sighed before adding, “ If you require any help changing bandages or applying ointment, let me know, I’ll do my best to help.” 

Lance nodded, “thanks Pidge.” Lance smiled softly, he was ever so grateful he had such a good friend. 

 

Shiro had begun snooping, and he determined he was awful at it. He was tired and couldn’t find anything that he could connect to keith or the ship. He was running out of time. So he swam in the direction the ship must have gone. As he swam the water seemed to grow heavier and heavier, alright so not the water, but why did it feel this way? Shiro swam deeper, perhaps something he could use sank below the surface. He reached into the seaweed knitted sattual, that he had been gifted, and pulled out a vial. He shook it lightly, the faint glow from the nunvill grew slowly. Though he could see well enough in the dark, he was no keith. Shiro could see a couple feet from his face, so the nunvill was efficient in turning feet into meters. As he glanced around he saw what looked like a small Electric Blue Jack Dempsey, though this one was glowing. Not in a normal fish glow way either, there was a light blue glow that grew stronger the closer it got. It swam around Shiro the nudged his tail forwards, almost like it wanted him to go that way. Shiro compiled and swam forward, the fish darted ahead and lead the way. The small glowing fish lead him to a set of weird rock formations, and Shiro realized he had wasted his valuable time. 

“Damn it,” he mumbled to himself, “where in the name of Alfor am I.” 

He looked for something that seemed familiar, then as he swam away from the rocks, a dizzying feeling sank it’s way into his head. He felt nauseous, and then right before his eyes he saw it, saw him.  
—————————————-  
“Shiro, that’s an awful idea.” 

The voice smiled and chuckled, “Guess I don’t get much of a choice but to come with then, huh?”

His smile brightened the world, Shiro’s world that is. Shiro pulled a quiver out and placed it on his back, 

“It’ll be fun, trust me.” 

Of course he then followed suit holding a whale bone bow in his hands, “ A long as you don’t take out my eye, or yours, I’ll be happy.” 

Shiro let out a honest chuckle and kissed his cheek, “You know I’m a good shot.” 

“Sorry Takashi, I don’t know that,” he teased. 

The two set out swimming to the small rock formation where they could set up targets. After an hour or so of shooting homemade targets, he decided that was enough. Unfortunately, shiro wanted to stay a bit longer. 

“Come on, just a couple more,” He begged.

He caved and agreed to stay. But the commotion of the arrows hitting seemingly everything but the target, they heard a voice.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here…”   
—————————————-  
Shiro felt like the memory had happened all over again, his voice broke,

“A-Adam?”

 

 

If Keith could describe his situation right now, he would probably guess that he was in a special place in hell, reserved for those who had no place with anyone remotely good. His head was spinning, his hands hurt like hell, and he could still barely move. Once they had gotten him back in the water he had painfully dove towards a ledge in the nearest rock wall. He could feel the throbbing in his tail, he pulled it close and pulled the bandages off as quickly as he could. He started at the swollen part of his tail, and when keith ran his hand over it, both his hand and his tail hurt. He let a whimper escape, it even discolored his tail a bit. Normally, Keith wouldn’t care, he took after his mother in how his tail looked anyway, except his tail was more red than hers. She had always told him exactly how beautiful his scales were, and how he took the color from his father. But the shape of Keith’s fins resembled his mother’s, they weren’t frilly, or poofy, he were more slick and sharp. Seeing how the end of his tail no longer had the beautiful threads with beads strategically placed, his mothers bracelets, it killed him. It was one of the few things that connected him to her, and now, they were gone. He allowed himself to take a deep breath, after being denied for what seemed like forever. He then looked to his hands. They were no longer bleeding, but they hurt, and they were cut clean down to the tips of his fingers, blunt, with not sharpness what so ever. It felt strange, but a sense of pride washed over him. He scared the humans, he must have, why else would they go to such measures. Stretching his tail out against the rock felt good, the pressure of moving it, relieved. He wanted nothing more than to drift into a child like sleep, to sleep and sleep and sleep, with no worries. Yet Keith refused to sleep, he wouldn’t even leave his eyes closed long, though he had scared the humans, he too was afraid.   
Early next rising of the sun he watched as the activity above water seemed to elevate again. Unsure of what this meant, he forced himself more onto the ledge. Then there was a sound, yelling,

“Hey- um Mer-person-thingy? Um I got some food.” 

The voice sounded anxious, and keith knew he could use that to his advantage. Keith fought the urge to stay put and relax his tail, it wasn’t easy but he brought himself near the surface, then promptly allowed only his eyes above the water. There, in front of him, was a large man, he had a bucket in one hand, and a dead fish in the other. 

“Oh! Hey there little guy, you, um, you want something to eat?” At the mention of food keith realized just how hungry he was, but he didn’t move.

“Well, if you promise not to hurt me I’ll give you some.”

Keith smirked, yup, he could defiantly manipulate this one. Keith raised his head slightly, then nodded. The man tossed a fish into the water, although the thing was dead, and smelled like it had been for a while, keith stripped it of everything, until only bone was left. The man looked on in sheer horror, keith had spun his web perfectly, trapping the man in horror so he could get him to let him go.

The man gulped, “um, I guess you are really hungry, huh?” He said and reached for another fish.

But before he could toss it in, keith spoke, after making sure no one else was around, 

“No, not particularly for the dead ones, ya know, they taste so much better alive, killing them in the fun part.” 

He gave a toothy grin, showing all his razor sharp teeth. The man seemed to freeze for a second, and Keith wondered if it had work, was he scared of him, and willing to listen to Keith’s demands? Or had Keith scared someone useless? The man shrieked,

“LANCE, PIDGE, ANYONE!” 

Keith dove, but not before he saw two people run towards the man, and he recognized one, Mr. blue eyes. While the smaller one talked to the big man, Mr. blue eyes sat at the ledge of the tank, peering in.

“I know what you are trying to do,” his voice range out, “I promise you, scaring Hunk will get you nowhere.”

Hunk? Oh that must be the big man, keith made mental note of that. Keith resurfaced a bit and glared at those blue eyes. 

Mr.blue eyes sighed softly, “Look, we are going to work off a system ok? I am going to ask you questions, every time you answer I’ll give you extra fish, whatever kind you want, alright.” It was a statement, keith realized he had no choice, so he nodded. 

If he was going to be stuck here might as well get some better fish. Mr.blue eyes smiled, 

“Great, let's start with your name.”

Keith thought about lying, but Mr. blue eyes seemed to have a power that let him detect lies, 

“Keith” he said, adding a snarl for good measure. 

However, Mr.blue eyes didn’t seem to care much about Keith’s threading tone, he just smiled then said,

“Keith huh? I like that, I’m Lance.”

 

 

Knowledge shells, study shells, maps and stories written on thick pieces of kelp, or seaweed were sprawled around the princess. She groaned, why was this so difficult. Then a noise made her perk up, 

“hey crazy, need a break?” 

Lotor smiled. Allura chuckled, “No, what I need is more information.” She looked down, “he’s counting on me Lotor, and I don’t know what to do,” she laid back and grumbled incoherently. 

Lotor shook his head, “ Come on, get up, let’s figure this out.” 

She sat up smiling, if anyone could get maximum research done in a short amount of time, it was Lotor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this I know I kinda started a lot but imma try to keep it understandable. Hopefully y’all will be able to tell what happening between the different characters! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe, just maybe Lance isn’t so bad. Angst in the beginning flash back, Allura has the best friend in the world.

“If it ain’t Takashi Shirogane,” the voice snickered. “And look, a precious little Betta.” 

Adam’s fins flared, “back off, Sendak.”

Of course Adam protected Shiro. Adam, being a betta, was territorial and protective, especially when it came to Shiro. Sendak was a large shark mer, and wasn't going to cower to some small Altean born pretty fish. Shiro knew when it came down to it, Adam would be killed, so he swam forward,

“What do you want Sendak.”

Shiro knew Adam would easily fight, it’s something he was good at, so he made a point to stay between Sendak and Adam. 

“The sea witch has had her eye on you, ya know,” his grin only grew as he spoke, “She wants to help you be more like me.” 

Shiro knew a good deal about Sendak. For starters, he was twice Shiro’s size. Secondly, The sea witch, Haggar, had made him like this, huge and merciless, able to kill with no remorse. Shiro shivered at the idea of himself becoming anything like Sendak. Unfortunately, Adam’s voice rang out,

“Shiro isn’t going with you, and he never will.” 

Sendak’s grin fell and he growled, “Oh yeah, and what’s a pretty little betta going to do about it?” 

Shiro threw his arm out, stopping Adam, “don’t,” he turned to Sendak, “Sendak, why do you think I’d ever want to be like you, feared and unnatural?” 

The laugh, that damn laugh, “If you refuse, I’ll kill the Altean brat.” 

Shiro glanced at Adam, who swam forward,

“Shiro won’t be doing that and it’s final, even if I have to kill you myself.”

Shiro pushed Adam back, “Adam stop! I don’t need you to fight for me!” Shiro turned his back to Adam and back to Sendak,“You swear nothing will happen to Adam?” 

Shiro couldn’t believe he was going to agree to this, but he loved Adam, and Shiro had promised. Adam was always aware of the fact that Shiro was a large talented shark mer, and he figured at some point someone would try to take advantage of that. So he had made Shiro promise to always have his back and never forget him. In return Adam had promised him that he would never leave him. Behind him Adam had his bow pulled taut, arrow pointed at Sendak. Adam’s promise was shattered that day, and along with it, Shiro’s heart.  
———————————————————

 

Keith hated to admit it, but Lance had really grown on him lately. He was strangely kind and understanding, and tried his best to keep Keith out of trouble. He even had a ledge installed close to the surface of the water so Keith could rest his tail while they talked. Of course Keith still refused to act kindly to Lance, but he would sometimes answer questions.

“So, do mer people live in shoals?” 

Keith ignored him toying with his bucket of gross fish he always brought. Lance grumbled, but tried again, 

“Alright, what about you in particular? Did you have a shoal?” 

Keith made a involuntary noise, as the memories he thought he had buried deep inside him washed back over his mind. The image of his mother’s bloodied up body shoving Keith between two rock, just barley wide enough for Keith to fit, then disappearing with one last terrifying scream played out in his mind. Keith felt defensive and hissed,

“Don’t ever bring up shoals again, and no, I don't have one.”

Lance looked shocked, “I’m sorry,” his voice sounded pained, and guilt wedged it’s way in between the fearful memories, “So, you’ve just been alone?” 

Keith thought about telling the truth, no that could put Shiro in serious trouble, “Yes, just me.” Lance nodded making a note of it,

“So um are there different types of mer?” 

Keith felt that was an ok question to answer, as long as he gave no locations, “Too many to count.” 

Lance perked up, a little, at least, “Tell me about them!” 

Keith sank a little lower into the water, it didn’t cool him off much, but he didn’t care. “I know limited about some of them,” he warned. 

Lance gave a smile, “I’ll take it.” 

Keith thought for a moment, “Shark mer are often outcasts, even though most of them are very kind. Often they keep to themselves, but occasionally they will hunt as a group, that’s when they are the most deadly.” Lance was still writing, but Keith continued, “I have only heard stories of betta mer, never actually met one, but from what I heard, they are territorial fighters, and they would challenge anything that tried to claim something a betta owned.” 

Keith remembered Shiro’s stories, and he remembered how heart broken and lovesick Shiro had seemed. Lance looked up, 

“Sorta like the Betta Fish they sell in pet stores! They have to keep them separated or else they will fight and kill each other.” 

“Sounds about right,” Keith said, then pointed to the bucket, “Give.”

Lance was trusting, but not to the point of hand feeding the thing, so he grabbed one and tossed it to him. Keith caught it perfectly and torn into it. Lance couldn’t help but notice the discuss that washed over his face every time he ate one of the dull grey fish.

“You know, I could get some different fish,” he said then added, “ I know someone who is in charge of all food preparation.” 

Keith nodded setting the skeleton on the ledge. 

“But, you have to answer all my questions,”

Lance felt bad about doing this, but knew he could bribe Keith into answering more.

Keith growled, “Low, really low,” he turned his back to lance, “Keep your quiznaking fish.” 

Keith dove down relatively fast for someone who had a large wound on their tail. Lance sighed, well, he messed that up, didn’t he?  
Lance walked back into the small shed like area where Pidge was.

“Hey Pidge!” 

He smiled. She swiveled around, “Hey Lance! Check it out I got the system to work, underwater moderating is a go,” she beamed. 

He chuckled, nice work Pidge.” 

She looked at him, “So why do you look worried?” 

Lance leaned against the wall, “I’m really not getting anywhere talking with him. Like all he told me today was that there are different types of mer, then gave me details about two of them.” Lance sighed, “If I don’t start reporting solid information, they are going to get it from him, and not in a good way.”

Pidge rolled her eyes, “then stop trying to befriend him and just tell him they will torture him and if he refuses, then they will start to figure out his anatomy, piece by piece.” She shrugged. 

Lance gasped, “What if that scares him? And I can’t get him to come back up?”

Pidge groaned, “Well Lance, one way or another J’re will have answers.”

Lance knew this was true, “Thanks Pidge, I’m going to find Hunk, see ya!” He turned and left, Hunk would know what to do.

 

 

Allura grumbled, only half awake. A few feet away, passed out in a heap of books, was Lotor, who clearly stayed up longer than she did. She sat up and stretched, then pulled her hair back into a bun. There had been no news from Shiro, and that concerned her. Allura whistled softly to the angelfish messenger, who came right away. 

“I want you to find Shiro, report to me his location,” the angelfish swam out the nearest window and into the open waters. 

She sighed softly, picking up another shell, holding it close to her ear as she listened to this wise words that had been cast into it. Lotor sat up suddenly, scaring Allura. 

“Allura! The old Pierner cave!” He exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Hush your voice! And what about it?” 

He swam closer, “The legend surrounding the cave! A casters heart, pure and whole, can call upon a priceless toll, onto the heart stone, a name enroll, to see the whereabouts of named soul.” Lotor recited.

“Oh Lotor those are guppy tales, the Pierner cave has never been found.” She said picking up a map shell, “Here look, no cave anywhere.” 

Lotor only grinned, “Maybe not on any altean maps, but I know the location of a map that has locations of places of legend.” His smile was honest, 

“Alright, present this map.” She said stretching her tail before up righting herself. 

Lotor was already up and nearly out the door when he called back, “Give me one full cycle of the sun, Allura! That’s all I need.” 

He gave her one last smile before darting from the palace history room. Allura chuckled his eagerness gave her hope, maybe legends did exist.

 

 

“Be blunt.”

Lance couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You are the king of sugar coating Hunk, and you want me to be blunt?!”

Hunk glanced up from where he was cutting, “I sugar coat little things, like a cut, however this is his life on the line Lance. It’s almost like you are toying with him if you don’t tell him.” He stated adding some carrots to a large pot of soup,  
“I’m sure he knows he isn’t ever going to misbehave without punishment, I mean he really is intelligent, despite what J’re thinks, I mean he figured out I was the weakest link and I’ve spent a total of like fifteen minutes with him.” 

Lance was holding the bucket of different fish that Hunk had given him, “I know that , but what if he thinks I’m th done trying to scare him into information?”

Hunk sighed, “Lance I know it’s sad but you can only help so much, all you can do is give him the facts, what he decides to do after is beyond you.” 

Lance looked down, “Alright, I know you’re right.” 

He picked up the bucket, this variety of fish happened to be heavier than the others. Lance marched right back down to the tank, he had to be blunt, show no sign he felt guilty, Keith would take it and run-er- well swim if he knew. He grabbed a rock on his way over and tossed it into the pool, hoping it caught Keith’s attention.

“Listen up mullet, we need to talk and we are talking now.” 

At first there was nothing, then Lance saw the black hair nearing the underwater platform. He waited until Keith’s head emerged from the water, and he settled his reddish tail comfortablely, he tried not to stare at the slightly frilled fins that draped over the sides of his tail when he sat.

“What the Hell is a mullet?” came Keith’s reply.

“We can talk about that later, but now you need to start giving me better answers, and all the answers to.” Lance said as sternly as he could manage. 

Keith seemed unimpressed, “Why in the darkest depths of hell’s drop of would I ever do that.” He grunted.

Lance sat down closer to the edge then he had previously ever been, “because Keith, if you don’t start giving me more answers yourself, others will start to come here and try. They won’t be near as kind as I have been, and they won’t hesitate to pull you out of that water, throw you on a table, and slice you up like fish sticks.” He rambled. 

Keith stared at the water around him,

“It doesn’t matter either way.”

His voice was lacking the tone that always made Lance feel as if there was a wall there,

“Either way I will die here, I’m not stupid.”

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, well Keith’s soul must be hurting, bad. Lance fought the urge to try to touch him. 

Keith sighed, “Look, I might not have a shoal anymore, but I do have an older brother, and I know I’ll never see him again.”

That hit lance hard, harder than Lance would like to admit. Lance knew the feeling well, so he gulped and reached out laying his hand Keith’s lightly freckled shoulder,

“ Keith I have family too, I’m not here because I want to be, I’m here to protect them.” 

He paused as if waiting for a reaction, when Keith didn’t react , he continued,

“If you cooperate, maybe I can get you back to him and I can go home to my family.” 

Lance voice was optimistic, but it held hope. Keith wanted to flinch away from the unwanted touch, but he didn’t. Instead he looked up to meet Lance’s eyes,

“Most mer people live in shoals of some type.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter is out! I’m hoping Y’all are enjoying this!! I have a design drawing of Adam i’m Working on along with the others! Hopefully I’ll ha some done for you guys by the next chapter


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a lot of blood in this chapter, Keith’s a poor “soul”, Lance is doing his darndest, and Shiro has a positive look on life

“Mother, where are we going?” A young Keith asked, holding tightly to his mom’s hand. The smile, she seemed to always have, made him feel safe and happy, his mom was living proof of the good in the world. 

“Patience Keith, it is a surprise remember!” Her eyes glistened, showing her enthusiasm. 

Keith couldn’t help but giggle. It was his birthday after all, and she seemed very excited to celebrate this year. Maybe there was something Keith didn’t realize, or maybe a special song she would teach him, he always wished he could sing like her. She was one of the best singers Keith had ever heard, but this was also something Keith hated. His mother, Krolia, was a spellsinger siren. Unlike normal spellsingers, her song casts often used dark magic. She couldn’t help it, he knew that of course, but it still made him part siren. Keith had never used his a song cast spell before, he had, however, seen them being used. His mother and him had been in a small shoal of sirens, this was a very rare and unhonorable thing. Most sirens believed in solitude, and that creating a shoal was weak, his shoal was very disliked. What most people couldn’t see was the good. The shoal could lure larger ships full of sailors to their deaths with much ease, and then they would reap the rewards. The sirens in his shoal used a method of swarm sinking, to sink ships, it was very effective. Keith liked it, he felt better knowing all the member had each other’s backs, but things weren’t all great. Of course it all went to hell on that day.

“Mom! Please tell me!” He begged tugging at one of her elegant, yet intimidating, fins. 

“Calm down you guppy, I can’t spoil it, then it’s no fun.” Krolia grinned brightly.

“Yeah Keith, it’s so awesome!” Another member of his shoal, Layla chuckled. Her girlfriend, Piper, swam beside her, “The less talking and more swimming you do the quicker we get there.” 

They passed into a narrowing of some rocks, the shallower waters were still open above. Keith followed his mother closely. He always tried to stay close to his mother, ever since he lost his father some years ago. Keith had been there when his father’s bloody body had been drug above water. He had been teaching Keith how to properly make a arrow for bow when he had been shot. Keith’s dad had always loved to stay too close to surface, too close, close enough for him to be hit by multiple bow fishers. Keith had been held back by Piper, who knew he was gone the second he left the water. Keith had screamed, cried, and hissed violently in attempts to get to his father, it was only when his mother grabbed him and held him close did he realize he wasn’t coming back. As his mother had held him close and began to swim away, Keith saw all the blood left swirling in the water, his dad was gone.

The memories still haunted him, the fear in his mother’s eyes, the screaming, the blood. He bumped into his mother as she stopped abruptly, pulling him from his thoughts. He looked up at his mother who was growling,

“mom?” She hissed a ‘shhh’ as she flared out the largest fins, “Who are you?” 

Glancing around her, he saw a small group of large shark mer. “Don’t worry ma’am, all we ask is three of your prettiest sirens.” 

Krolia had snickered, “What makes you think we would ever do that? Don’t you realize we could easily devour you?” 

The largest shark swam forward, “We outnumber you.”

Another joined in, “So you are a shoal? Shame.” 

The shoal dawned their weapons. Keith felt so small, he gulped, ‘people are going die’ he thought. His mom made the first move using her knife to cut the nearest one, setting off the small war zone. Keith had dodged one shark that dove for Layla, who had her enchanted bow drawn, all to late. A fifth shark mer had shown up and joined the fight. He couldn’t see his mom through all the-

“Keith!” He whirled around just in time to see her.

Blood. So much blood. Keith was suffocating, the dark fluid filled his gills as his mother wrapped him in her arms. She too, was bleeding heavily, and seemed to be having troubles breathing, not for the same reasons of course. Somewhere in the back he heard a scream, he looked, he wished he hadn’t. Layla was dead, Piper was bleeding out, Noah had a huge gash running down his chest still fighting, and little Annabeth, three years younger than him, was dead and missing her arm, her fins ripped. The tears spilled faster now. 

“Mommy,” his voice trembled as his mom cooed him.

“It will be alright, ‘Shhh’ Keith, my dear guppy, promise mommy” Keith felt her attempting to use her magic to calm his nerves, it didn’t work, “Promise me you will never forget me or your father, ok,” her voice was hushed as she pushed Keith in between two narrow rocks. 

“Mom please, you are scaring me,” he whimpered. 

“No no my son, promise me.” She pleaded, risking a glance to each side.

“Mommy I promise to never forget, please don’t leave.” He reached for her, and she kindly held his small hands in her bloodied ones,

“You are much braver than you realize, you will do great things Keith, I know you will. Now be mama's big boy and stay put, and stay quiet ok?”

She kissed his hands, then pushed herself away from the cover of the rocks, drawing the attention of the shark mer who were searching for her. Keith couldn’t stop the hurt in his chest, and it only got worse. He saw his mother dive fast, leading the remaining shark mer after her, they were gaining on her fast. A scream shot through that water, then, there was nothing.

 

Nothing but silence.

————————————

Keith jerked awake so hard, he hurt his tail. Now not only did his chest hurt from the tightness, but his tail stung. He wanted to cry, no he wanted to die. No one's empathy could make him feel better. It’s not like he hadn’t relived the dream before, but Shiro was always there to help and talk him through it. As his nerves settled he heard a noise near the shallow ledge, curiosity got the best of him and he left the deep, fake rock ledge for the shallow one. 

Not surprisingly Lance was waiting for him, “hey what happened?”

He asked in a hushed tone. Keith opened his mouth to answer, but shut it. How did Lance know he was awake and upset? Did he know he had a terrible dream? Keith grew defensive, could they see in his head? Lance clearly saw the discuss and anger boiling on Keith’s surface. Keith growled, 

“How? How do you know that?

Lance heard the distrust in his voice, “Keith calm down, it is just a monitoring system. It, I promise, won’t hurt you.” 

His eyes were slits, now, not even the water was safe? Glaring he hissed, “Where is it?”

Lance shook his head, “I can’t tell you Keith, I know you will get yourself in trouble.”  
Keith felt betrayed, but knew Lance was overall right, he had planned to rip it to shreds once he found it. He lowered his gaze, and Lance could see the small lingering of fear in his eyes.

“So, you wanna talk about what happened?” He asked, moving as close to the water as he could. “I can fix the bandages while I’m here.”

Keith shook his head, but lifted his tail out of the water, “Doesn’t matter.”

Of course it matter, but Keith still didn’t fully trust Lance, even though he had been bringing better food. Lance was however right, it seemed a group of people were watching Lance and him whenever Lance was questioning him. Keith found this odd and he wanted to know. 

“Hey Lance- OW! What are you doing?!” Keith attempted to shake loose Lance’s grip, but Lance held his ground.

“Making sure it isn’t infected. Now hold still, I know the cream burns.” Lance kept applying the medication to Keith’s healing wound, so much for finding out anything tonight. “Come on, Keith, how about you just ramble for a bit to feel better?”

Keith sighed, and Lance was quick to try to cheer him up,

“Oo, is it true mermaid’s truly sing sailors to their deaths?”

Keith’s mouth opened, at first no sound came out, then a soft, “you are thinking of sirens.”

Lance nodded, “my bad! But aren’t sirens like all evil and stuff, like killing mercilessly?” Lance was curious, but also felt he could keep Keith talking, just maybe. However, a deep hiss brought him eye to eye with the agitated merman,

“Not all sirens are evil.” Each syllable was dripping with poison, ”Some are kind, despite the way they do things.”

Lance gulped, unmoving, “Well how would you describe them then?”

A rumbling growl, “They don’t chose to be sirens, you know, some are just born that way. Some wish they were normal, and some just wish they had been taught how to sing using good magic.” 

Keith didn’t look up, the memory of his mother telling him how she felt was burned into his head. She never liked having to kill, but sadly, they had to. It was the souls, the song spell was cast, luring unsuspecting souls, then eating the poor sailor, or other mer for that matter, to obtain it. Keith never thought it made them bad, just they were limited in their options. Krolia had always felt guilty towards those she had stolen souls from. His dad and him never had to steal souls, however, his dad, he was normal, Keith was not. 

“Some sought normal lives knowing they would never get them. Other’s only did it to survive, not everyone is bloodthirsty,” he stated, he would know best, right? 

Lance, seeing how defensive Keith was, knew he was hiding something, so he pried,  
“Did you know many sirens?” 

Lance regretted that question almost immediately. Lance and Keith’s noses were almost touching, Keith’s large eyes were slits as he spoke,

“Why does it matter?” The hiss was low. “Plan on hunting them next?” Lance wanted to move back, yet something in his gut told him to stay, 

“Look dude, I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer, I get you don’t like me.” Lance glared right back, “You don’t have to be so damn rude.”

Keith sank a little, mumbling so quiet Lance had to strain to hear it, “I don’t hate you, I just-“

Lance cut him off, “No I get it, I’m not like you, so that means you will never fully trust me, huh?”

Keith sat there, damnit, the hurt of those words struck Keith so hard he could almost feel the disappointment from his mom. He breathed in and sighed,

“It’s not like I don’t trust you because you are human, I’m not shallow. It’s just, you were one of the first humans I saw when I was brought onto that floating hell of a ship.” Keith wasn’t looking at Lance anymore, he was looking across the water of the tank.

Lance nodded, he really did get it, but he wanted Keith to trust him, for the good of both of them, “Keith, how can I help you trust ME more?”

Keith wanted to tell him the truth. To look up and tell him to let him go, that he would visit Lance as often as possible, bringing him some sort of payment, if he would just let him free. Keith bit his lip and urged the words,

“Please, just let me go home.”

“Keith, you know I can’t do that, I could get my family hurt badly. It’s just not possible, I’m sorry.” Lance lowered his head, he didn’t want to look at Keith, who also avoided eye contact.

“The water’s hot.” 

Lance’s head shot up, “What?”

Keith sighed, “The water, it’s so hot all the time, it’s really uncomfortable.”

Lance smile was brief but honest, “I think I can do something about that.” 

Hope is a flimsy, unreliable thing isn’t it? Just when you grasp it, it’s been ripped from you. It sucks doesn’t it? When the mental pain turns into physical burning, a sense of no escape. Pain really changes people, sadly Keith knew the burning sensation all to well. As Lance left that sun fall, Keith sank into the water and let all hope go, after all it wouldn’t hurt as bad when it was ripped from him if he was never holding on, right?

 

Shiro swallowed the fear that had risen inside him. Adam was gone, he knew that. Then why did all of the memories seem so fresh in his head? Like they had happened just last sun rise? Shiro had swam as fast as he could away from the rocks, only the meet up with the small angelfish. The fish had nudged him towards the city, Shiro swam with the fish even though he had found nothing that Allura could enchant. The image of Adam haunted Shiro as he waited for Allura. Why wasn’t Shiro quicker when he needed to be? Maybe if he was just better he could have stopped Adam, he could’ve saved Keith. He wasn’t enough- wait, what is he thinking? He knew that what happened to Adam was an awful thing, but without it, he would have never been so close to siren territories that day, and he would have never helped the small scared mer boy to safety. He still longed for Adam to be next to him, giving him the best advice, but life was unfair. Shiro couldn’t change the past by feeling bad, no, he had to focus on not losing the remaining family he had. He watched as a hooded figure ducked, and swam behind the patrol.

Allura was panting as she reached the small hide away, “Sometimes I hate how protective my father is of his city.” Shiro chuckled, how could he not?

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t had that though.” He smiled at her.

She chuckled then looked at him, “Did you find anything?” 

Shiro shook his head, clearly something else had happened, but Allura knew better than to pry. Instead she gave him a sheepish smile,

“Shiro, do you believe in legends?” She asked slightly giddily, despite the seriousness of the current situation. 

The question threw Shiro off, legends? He glanced around, “Allura, what kind of legends do you mean?”

Allura laughed, “Nothing bad Shiro, trust me, just what about guppy tales?” 

Shiro laughed nervously, he didn’t want to admit he had never been told any as a guppy, “Of course not, they are just made up.”

Allura nodded, “That’s what I thought too, but Lotor swears he has a map that leads to Pierner Cave.” She sounded excited. Shiro was just plain confused.

“Alright, what about it?” He asked skeptical.

Allura smiled, “There is a saying I don’t know it very well, but Lotor says one pure of heart can write down a soul’s name and see their location, I think.” She then added, “If he provides the map I plan on going with him to see if I can get Keith’s exact location.”

Shiro glanced down, “You are relying on the hopes that a guppies tale is real, and that’s how you plan to find Keith?” 

Allura frowned, “It’s worth a shot at least, right?”

Shiro chuckled softly, “It would be foolish to let a princess and a strange merman go to a cave all alone, so I guess I’ll come with.” Allura grinned and hugged him,

“You are an amazing friend Shiro, you aren’t afraid to stop looking, even if I’m just hoping on guppy tales.”

He smiled softly, “Thanks Allura, besides, without hope we are nothing, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, guess we will have to see what happens next! I completely forgot though, if you wanna see some art I’ve Created for this you can go to my Instagram (@insanityz_art) and check it out!! I hope to be posting more redraws from some of these sense I draw on there more often!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take a turn for the worse, but Lance has a plan, Shiro is on the edge of patience with Lotor, The assistant will play an important role

Keith had gotten used to seeing Lance’s bright face early every rising sun, to have him check on his tail and then feed him and talk. He had gained trust in Lance, and actually had a little hope in the idea that one day he would help Keith escape. However, one sun rising Keith noticed something extremely different. Lance wasn’t there, nor was the happy aroma he seemed to put off, even when he wasn’t in sight. Instead there was a new face and the face of the mean woman from the first time he was brought here.

“What exactly do the notes say,” The woman asked the odd man. 

“All it says is there are many types, they live in shoals, used to cold water, and it likes more exotic fish,” He chuckled, “Wow, how long have you had this thing? A day?”

The woman growled, “Almost a week.” Turning to the man she asked, “you think you can get more out of it?”

The man was tall, for a human at least, and looked more like a corpse than a human. Keith figured he too was a prisoner, although a better dressed one. His grin made Keith’s skin crawl, that was never a good sign.

“Give me and my assistant an hour to setup and I guarantee we will have at least two pages if not more.” He chuckled gesturing to his assistant who had already set up a table with weird instruments. 

Keith felt threatened already, however the assistant reminded him of someone, or like the idea of someone, yet he couldn’t put a fin on who…

“Here fishy fishy,” came a call from the man who was now fully aware keith was watching.

Keith mentally laughed, did he really believe that would work? Keith dropped below the water and went to lay on the deep ledge, something splashed and keith paid it no attention, he knew the human was just upset he didn’t come, and probably throwing rocks or something. But the noise, the damn noise, a crying that ripped through Keith’s heart, and tormented his head. The cry was high pitched and it rang in Keith’s ears, he panicked. Not matter how hard he pressed his hands into his head, he couldn’t stop the noise. He panicked so much he wanted out of the water, he swam up as fast as he could and the second his face hit the surface the noise stopped, leaving Keith shaking. His gills sucked in water at a quickened pace, although Keith was attempting to calm down. His eyes landed on the mystery human.

“Now, there’s a good fish.”

Anger boiled at Keith’s core. He hissed showing every sharp tooth he could, all questions were gone replaced with hatred.

“Where is Lance.” He growled keeping a distance from the ledge.

“You mean the lousy prisoner who doesn’t know what an animal is compared to a meaningful being? Oh, simple he’s now on food duty only.”

Keith made a face.

The man smirked, “What? Does that upset you?

He needed to calm down, he would still see Lance, everything would be ok.

Lies. 

He can make it through this.

More lies.

 

————————————-  
It had been forever, or it felt that way. He hadn’t been fed in what seemed like forever, and now there was a looming fabric stretched across the tank, sure it shaded him from the sun, but it also stopped him from seeing it completely. Keith liked the dark, he always had, but now? He was sorta terrified, it’s not like he could escape if someone were to attack him. He had refused to talk to anyone, and stayed close to the bottom of the pool. He hadn’t seen Lance once since the new human took over, that also upset Keith. Maybe Lance had given up on him, it made Keith’s heart burn, he didn’t exactly know why either.   
Then one middle break of the sun or maybe the sun had just risen, Keith really wasn’t sure, the tarp started peeling back, letting the bright sun hit Keith. He hissed, it burned his eyes, temporarily blinding him. He was also hit with a wave of heat, that sank into his bones very quickly. Keith’s mind raced a thousand directions at once, and he felt the panic rising back within him. Before he could come to a solid conclusion, he felt something wrapping around him, then tightening. It was the same wire like thing that had grabbed him so many sun rises ago, although it was wrapped around his torso and cutting into him. He was yanked to the side of the tank nearest the man, the assistant had a look of pure guilt, yet he didn’t loosen the wire. Keith’s eyes were beginning to adjust to the brightness of the sun. There was now another prisoner standing at a table, she looked like she wanted to be there as much as Keith did.

“Mira, Please fetch the feeder, then grab a tarp for the table.” He stated in a harsh tone. The girl, Mira , looked as if she wanted to say no, to refuse and lash out, but she nodded then softly added,

“Of course sir.”

Keith was sick to his stomach, his gills started to burn, just inches from the stale water. He tried to look on the tables, that was a mistake. There were knives and other sharp objects Keith really didn’t want to know about. He wanted to attack the assistant, but pain engulfed his body, water, he needed water. He began to struggle, to attempt to just dive into the water, all in vain. He was dragged further from the water, he felt the wire slitting his skin, scaring him all he more. As he felt the blood leaking down his sides, he wished for nothing more than to pass out, end the pain, just let him lose consciousness. He felt himself slipping into looming darkness, in no time at all he would black out…

“What are you doing?!” The words boomed loud in Keith’s head. Wait why did the voice sound so...

Lance

Keith’s eyes shot open, it couldn’t be true, but it was. There Lance was, running towards Keith, dropping the bucket of fish somewhere along his way. 

He reached for the assistant who was still holding the wire contraption, and grabbed at it,

“You are hurting him!” Lance called out.

The man stepped forward, “ you are Lance, I assume? I have heard you are a lousy note taker, who seems to think that this animal,” he gestured to Keith, “is equal to us.” His chuckled was devious.

He circled Lance, “Perhaps you haven’t heard why I’m here, I’m Proroc, and I’m in charge of dealing with it. You are merely here to feed it and insure its habitat is livable.” He shoved Lance back a bit with a laugh, then resumed bending down to Keith’s level.

Keith bit the man’s hand, drawing blood. The man cursed, then yelled, “drop the damn fish!” 

The assistant did as Proroc commanded, and Lance watched Keith fall into the water, diving to the bottom. The man pulled his hand up to his chest,

“Or perhaps,” Lance whipped his attention back to the man, “You can become fish food.”

Lance’s eyes widened as Proroc shoved him into the warm water of the tank. Lance made the mistake of inhaling after he was submerged, and found himself sinking slowly, but running out of air quickly. Lance was stunned, unable to move any of his limbs. Then something hit him, would Keith eat him? Keith had told him he didn’t trust him, and Lance had a slight feeling Keith blamed him for this. Lance recalled what Keith had said.  
———————-  
“It’s just, you were one of the first humans I saw when I was brought onto this hell of a ship.”  
———————-  
Did Keith blame him for all this? I mean technically he would be right too, but still, Lance had never told him it really was all his fault. A huge sting ran through his body as if his lungs were crying out for help. He wanted to swim up, he couldn’t. He began to panic when he felt two soft hands grab his waist, Keith. He struggled, was Proroc right? Was Keith going to eat him? Lance knew Keith hadn’t been fed in days, so for good measure he thought a silent prayer, he didn’t want to die yet. Lance closed his eyes expecting a tearing of his flesh, blood gushing as he was eaten alive, however, it never came. Suddenly, his head was fully above the water and he inhaled deeply, almost choking on it. He looked down to see Keith swimming back to the bottom of the tank. Proroc’s assistant offered Lance a hand, and with the help of Mira, helped him out of the waters and onto dry land. Proroc hissed and kicked Lance, forcing him to cough up water,

“Get the bucket, and feed the damn animal.”

His assistant helped Lance handing him the bucket. Lance gulped he tasted the copper taste of a thick liquid resonating in his mouth. Holding the bucket he walked over to the edge, he watched Proroc and his assistant walk into the monitoring room. Lance held his stomach, and sat at the edge of the water, “Keith?” His voice was hoarse and he doubted Keith heard. To his surprise though, he saw the slim figure swim up, albeit cautiously. Lance looked over his shoulder, the monitor door slammed shut, 

“It’s ok.”

Keith’s voice was hushed, “Doesn’t matter.”

Lance chuckled, “Hey I warned you didn’t I?” 

Keith didn’t share the same playful nature Lance had attempted to pass along, 

“You think this is a joke? Don’t you?” This left Lance speechless.

“You have nothing to lose by letting them ‘take care’ of me. You know this will all end in my death, yet you still find it funny to laugh at my misery?” Keith wanted to leave it at that but his mouth worked quicker than his mind, 

“You know I could have eaten you, you probably taste better than those nasty freshwater fish they give, and I could steal your soul and I’d feel-“ He clamped his mouth shut, damn it he said too much.

Lance looked down in horror, “my soul- you take peoples souls?” He looked like he would vomit.

“N-no?” Keith said, pitifully.

Lance felt himself pull away from the ledge, he was a siren. He had to be, right?

“The reason you got so defensive about sirens, it’s because you are one, aren’t you?” He asked not really caring as he knocked over the bucket.

“No, maybe? Look it doesn’t matter.” Keith fumbled for the words, what’d he give to be back with Shiro, or anywhere but here. Keith had never told Shiro about him being half siren, ever,never planned to either. Sirens were hated by everyone, most sirens hated each other too. Keith knew if he ever came clean he would have most likely been killed. But now, Lance knew. Was this a huge problem? Keith didn’t know, all he did know was Lance couldn’t blab.

“You so are! Wait then why don’t you, oh I don’t know, sing and get someone to let you go?” Lance noticed Keith’s head drop, “What ? You never thought of that?” Lance snickered.

Keith growled, “That’s not how it works, you have to be able to sing well, know some basic spell cast songs, and- wait! Why am I telling you this? You are just going to sell me out.”

Lance shook his head, keeping his voice low, “No, no! Look this could be a chance to help you escape!” 

Keith tried to respond, but the words caught in his throat, was Lance for real? No, this had to be a joke, and awful, painful, heart breaking joke.

“You-you’re lying, you don’t care.” Keith finally spit out.

“No Keith, please, I care about you ok? I want to help.” Lance smile seemed genuine, but Keith knew smiles could deceive.

“You are lying.”

“Keith, do you think you can practice singing? Like after everyone has gone back to sleep?” Lance was close to the water, Keith could easily have drowned him, it was a tempting thought.

“If no one is around to hear, or get affected, yeah.” He said bashfully.

“Good, tonight, when you see that little light,” He pointed above the monitor room, “go out, I want you to practice, I’ll see if I can do anything about the songs, maybe there are some sort of reports from survivors? I don’t know-“

“Lance,”

“I’m sure there has to be something somewhere, you know. Maybe I can go to the local fishers and ask-“

“LANCE!” 

Lance looked straight into Keith’s eyes, “What?”

“Why are you helping me? You are a prisoner too, right?” Keith’s voice was almost as soft as his hands.

“I care a lot about you, and believe it or not, I think I may have a weak spot for ya, mullet.” His chuckle was faint, “and well, it’s hard to explain, you know. I’m a prisoner, but I’m not. I can come and go, if I want, but it’s sorta like a more demanding job, that you don’t get paid for and are forced to live in cells of sorts.” He looked away, “The only thing binding you here is whatever Zarkon has threaten, for me it’s my familia.”

“Don’t they refer to you as prisoners?” Keith asked tilting his head.

“That’s how the generals see us, useless prisoners. It doesn’t help we all have these awful spandex uniforms either,” He chuckled as if it were amusing, “But I don’t want them to ever hurt anyone from my family, so I stay. I really didn’t do much until recently. Maybe, if you escape, I can too. They won’t need me anymore, and I can go home to my safe family.” He sounded hopeful, maybe he really was.

Keith nodded, although he didn’t quite understand, he wished he did though.

 

 

 

Shiro waited with Allura by some old rock fountain Lotor had said he’d meet them at. He wasn’t there still, Shiro didn’t like it. Allura seemed to be way to confident in him and this supposed ‘map’.

“Have faith, Shiro! He won’t be long.” She assured.

“That’s the thing princess, I don’t.” He sighed, “What if he lied? He doesn’t have this map and you know it.” 

Allura looked down and Shiro continued, “hell I bet-“

He was cut off by cough, “Well, if you must have he map I will allow you to carry it.”

“Lotor!” Allura smiled, “You had me worried you weren’t ever going to show up.”

His chuckle was soft, “Do not worry, I have the map, plus some additional gossip and information.” He turned to Shiro, 

“I believe some of the gossip I have pertains to you little brother, what’s his name? Oh yes, that’s right,” he held out a shell,

“Keith.”

Shiro grabbed the shell, “Thank you,” The words were barely there, as Shiro held the shell to his ear, listening to the different voices the shell had picked up.

~  
“Yes, a rather small mer mistress, Haggar.” The first voice spoke. 

“Hm, has he given anything important?” The second voice, Haggar, said her tone was unreadable.

“I’m sorry mistress, he will only speak to one boy, and he has still given little to no useful information.” There was a pause, “But do not worry ma’am, we can still break him, someone from the boys family can have an ‘accident’ then maybe he will be more willing to give up info”

“No, that will raise suspension from the police, send Proroc to break him.” Haggar said as if if were a simple order.

“Of course, the boy will learn to respect-“

“No you imbecile! Send him to break the mer boy, I have no care of the human boy. Proroc is merciless, and he is up to date on the most efficient torture methods, so it should be a breeze.”   
~  
The voices faded out and Shiro’s heart nearly stopped. Keith, they had Keith, and now he was going to be tortured for information Shiro knew he didn’t have. He whipped towards Lotor,

“Where?”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you are asking,” came his soft reply.

“Where is he? Where did you get these voices?” Shiro roared, anger seeping into the channels where the pain had once set.

Lotor held up his hands defensively, “I do not know where, that is why we need to get to the cave, but I got the voices from setting up shells along a beach I know, sadly I searched and there was no sign of him, or anything.”

Allura sighed, “Shiro, I know you are upset, and trust me, I am too! But for us to help we have to have faith that this map leads us the Pierner Cave.”

Shiro wanted to argue, no, scratch that, he wanted to kill Lotor. He knew more than he was letting on and Shiro could feel it, he opened his mouth to yell when he got a sharp glare from Allura. It was enough to make his back down, the princesses word was final. The three set off on their journey, all hoping to gain something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s sorta short! I’m trying my best to write more but this felt like a good place to end this chapter!! A special thanks to https://instagram.com/o0fnack?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=12vzvvq9kk47y for Mira who is her oc! Thank you so much!! And look forward to a new chapter soon!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is battling with his feelings, Lance is one precious boy, I told you to watch the assistant, Allura, Lotor, and Shiro arrive at their destination

Lotor had been oddly silent. Of course by silent I mean mumbling incoherent words and phrases to himself. Shiro wasn’t one to judge, be he did not trust Lotor, not one bit. Allura had told him that Lotor was often practicing magic of some sort, and he was supposedly extremely good at it. Shiro watched him carefully, he knew Lotor and Allura had been good friends for a while but still, he didn’t believe he told the whole story about Keith. As if hearing Shiro’s thoughts, or perhaps noticing his glare, Lotor spoke,

“You know, Shiro, I would not withhold information about you brother. I am actually quite curious to meet him.” His voice sounded lighthearted, as if it were on casual terms.

“Why is that?” Shiro questioned, a puzzled expression washing over him.

“Simple. I’ve never heard of someone of his kind before.” 

Before Shiro could begin to ask what he meant, Lotor came to a halt.

“Princess, The cave is just up there.” He sounded for sure, but Shiro held skepticism.

Allura grinned, “then let us not waste anymore of the little time we have.”

With Allura leading the way they stumbled upon an old wooden sign, it seemed fragile and coated in an odd mold, and if Shiro didn’t know any better he would say it was glowing. Lotor gently dusted off the sign revealing the words written there,

 

‘Upon this sign that few may see  
Purest of heart one must be  
A mind not dead to children’s wishing  
But if you pay by hefty cost  
What was once was missing  
No longer will be lost’

 

Lotor smirked, “this is it.”

Allura bit her lip, color seemed to be leaving her, “Lotor, how will we know if any of us are pure of heart and not dead to children’s wishes?” She asked.

Shiro looked around, “Maybe we have to swim in and see if whoever writes on this stone can get it to work.” 

“Perhaps,” Lotor swam up, “Well it’s worth a shot!”

The cave was dark for a cave, even with the light glow coming off of Allura’s markings and Lotor’s fins, Shiro felt himself squinting. He was a shark for Poseidon's sake, why couldn’t he see well? By this point he had run into three walls and about to hit a forth when he heard Allura’s voice a couple feet away from him gasp then yell out, 

“Boys! Over here!” 

Shiro was next to her in a heartbeat, and Lotor soon followed. Before them was a large, smooth, stone slab, it had names carved into it almost filling the top half. On the walls were odd light fixtures, slowly glowing brighter. There were also carved messages, from what Shiro guessed, were the unworthy. One read, 

‘Have you seen my wife?’

While another seemed to be the work of a mad mer,

‘Lies  
Lies  
All around  
They claimed what’s lost would soon be found  
But instead beware the cackling sound  
Which leads to voices all around  
Lies  
Li  
e  
s’

Shiro shuttered, If fear hadn’t already settled over him, uncertainty would have. He glanced to Allura and Lotor, both examining the rock, 

“It’s marvelous,” Lotor’s voice echoed.

Allura nodded in agreement, “ But how does it even work?”

Shiro swam forward and glanced at the exit, as if checking to make sure it too hadn’t escaped. Instead, right above the doorway was another message,

‘To see a soul through sun or flood  
One must pay the glimpse through blood  
No matter brains or strongest might  
Will be given an unforgettable chance at sight  
But never touch what can’t be reached  
Or perhaps your goal you’ve overreached’

“Alright,” Shiro said, “I think it requires some sort of blood, and then we can’t touch anything until it’s done, I guess.” He said pointing to the inscribed words.

After reading through it, Lotor turned to him, “I’d say that’s a good bet, but where do we put the blood and what do we give blood from?”

Shiro shrugged, but Allura was four steps ahead, “What if it’s the worthy person’s blood?”

Both Shiro and Lotor stopped every train of thought they had, she was right, after all it made sense.

“Then there,” Lotor gestured to a pillar in the corner, “Must be where we test if we are worthy.”

Lotor swam over to the pillar, sitting on it was a shockingly clean blade, and a small dip in the middle. Picking up the small blade he turned to the others,

“Who’s first?”

 

 

 

It was back to the same old things. The tarp was blocking his light all the time, he never knew what time of sun passage it was, and he barely got fed. He hadn’t seen Lance in a million years, ok so maybe not that long, but it sure as hell felt that way. He knew it was punishment for biting the man who called himself ‘Proroc’, Keith however, didn’t care all that much. He hadn’t been in this dark of waters for a while, he forgot that he, like his mother, had light purple luminescent marks covering his pale skin. He had begun to practice singing, he felt stupid, but maybe if   
Lance could find an old song he could use…

“Hopeless.” He mumbled settling back at the bottom of the tank. He was indeed filthy, coated in a disgusting layer of some sort of film, he could feel his ribs, and the scales around where his wound once was were now dull. Keith wanted to enchant something to see if his practice was paying off at all, yet he refused to try. 

“Can’t be disappointed if you never try.” He at one point had said, giving up for the time being. It was this time he stopped did he realize how hungry and miserable he was, then it hit him. If he kept busy singing he wasn’t near as hungry, or as self aware. Sure the thought that Lance and his pretty ocean blue eyes, would come and free him from this punishment was nice, but he knew the truth… or so he thought.

Sitting on the deep ledge, Keith was softly practicing singing. It wasn’t nothing special, just something he remembers his mom singing when he was a baby. It was a simple song spell created to help lull children to sleep. After his dad died his mom rarely used clean magic for spell songs, instead she only used the dark magic that was so prominent in sirens. Keith had almost forgotten what the soft gentle version sounded like, once she stopped the songs were never the same, instead of lulling him to sleep, the flat out put him to sleep and often caused nightmares. She had not meant for this, at least he didn’t believe she did. Lost in his thoughts, not only had he stopped singing, but was unaware of the activity above the water. Only when the tarp was being pulled back did he realize. He had expected to see the grumpy or angry face of this Proroc human, instead he got a delightful surprise. There stood Lance, he looked a little thinner than he last remembered, but all the same there was his vibrant blue eyes and gentle smile as he knelt by the edge. Keith found his heart fluttering as he swam to the top, Lance’s face was getting clear and clearer.

“Hey mullet,” Keith had never been more happy to see a human.

“H-hey,” He said relaxing on the ledge, “I’ve been practicing like you asked.”

Lance smiled, “well that good because I have some songs you can look at.” He wore a proud expression, although Keith wasn’t sure if it was for himself or Keith.

“Lemme see!” Keith was so giddy to just see Lance, he felt just as excited as him.

“Not now, too many people,” He pointed to the guards and Proroc, “ Tonight will be best.”

Although he was slightly disappointed, he would not allow this to hold him back, he smiled at Lance, “I have missed you and your dumb face.”

“Feeling mutual, my scaly friend,” Lance chuckled, although it seemed sorta stressed. “I just wish it was on better terms,” Lance sighed softly, now wearing a pained expression.

“What do you mean?” Keith questioned, how could Lance’s visit be anything but perfect?

“Keith, they plan on doing some blood work, nothing too serious, but still they called me out here to keep you under control, or be become leverage,” He gave a weak smile, “As it seems you have a soft spot for me as well.”

Keith had no idea what blood work meant, and his head jumped instantly to blood casting and his heart nearly stopped.

“No! It will kill me Lance please! Please!” He cried out, moving back from the ledge, “It’s so painful!”

Lance shook his head, “Hey! Calm down, deep breaths through your lun-er-gills.” He said softly, “It won’t be bad I promise, and if it does hurt you can just, um well, squeeze my hand, ok?” 

No, no, no! Keith’s mind screeched, but nonetheless he nodded, feeling his chest become extremely tight. Maybe humans didn’t know any blood casts, and Lance had just misspoken. Before Keith could question anymore, Proroc’s assistant walked over,

“Lance, Proroc is requesting you hurry up and get it into a transfer tank, he is not in the mood to wait.”

Lance nodded, “alright, just let me get the tank, it won’t be long.” He turned back to Keith, “Do you trust me?”

No. “Yes,” His heart was now speaking for him. But that couldn’t be right, he didn't like like Lance, right? He was just grateful for his kindness, and so what if he had the prettiest eyes and the softest voice he had ever heard. He was wrapping his head around his mixed emotions when he felt a hand on his arm.

“I’ll be careful, I promise.”

Damn it, Keith trusted this human with his life, and the worst part is how wrong Keith knew it was. It took three humans to lift him, Lance, the assistant, and Hank? Keith couldn’t remember his name very well, besides, he was terrified of Keith and hardly ever actually came to the tank. Keith’s breath was ragged, panic was beginning to set in. His instinct was to thrash. His gills tried to accept the air, instead a fire like burn rushed into through his throat. The three attempting to raise him into the tank could barely hold him as he thrashed harder, all at once very afraid. Eventually he splashed into the shallow tank on wheels, his tail was bent in an odd angle and he was unable to get comfortable. Even in the water the panicky feeling would not retreat, especially when he was maneuvered forward exposing the entirety of his back. Suddenly, all the panic left. All of it, without warning. Keith was more shocked than anything else mostly due to the fact he knew what was happening, and he knew the small calming spell song. 

His body was calm, but his mind raced. Who was casting it? Was there a mer extremely close? Was it Lance? It couldn’t be, he was human, everyone around him was. Keith sucked water into is gills, reaching his mind out attempting to trace the magic. Wait, no it couldn’t be, could it? The magic, the calming sense, it was all coming from…

A prick that pierced his skin that seemed to hit his lower spine. A bloody scream left his mouth, or more was ripped from his throat. Although he felt Lance rubbing circles into his upper back it did nothing to his state of mind. It was torment, the magic was holding his body still, salty tears raced down his cheeks, it hurt like hell, and he could do nothing. Keith didn’t know how long he was held like that, all he did know was when he was release from the magics strong hold, he spasmed. His chest was heaving, wow he really was a huge guppy. It had been forever since he had been manipulated with magic. Having control of his body once more he quickly twisted to hide his back, he was shaking, he couldn’t stop. Lance was whispering something to him as they moved the tank back towards his large enclosure, he couldn’t hear him. No, his focus was on the source of all the magic he had felt…

Proroc’s assistant.

 

The tarp was left off, the water returned to it’s muggy feeling, but Lance visited with him everyday now. Lance had no clue what Keith was talking about when he told him about the magic nor would he tell Keith anything about the assistant, claiming he didn’t know. It irritated Keith, and that upset Lance.

One rising of the sun Keith was waiting for Lance, instead he got Proroc’s assistant. He wanted to act uninterested and dive back to the bottom, but his man curiosity got the best of him… again.

“I suppose you want an explanation?” His voice was soft, almost hypnotically.

Keith ignored him, until he held up two bracelets, that gained all his attention.

“Look Lance asked me to fill in for him, but I'm not Lance.” Keith didn’t get what he was getting at. 

“How about we make a deal? If you answer some questions I have, I’ll answer yours.” Keith’s eyes were locked on the jewelry, the assistant chuckled, “and I’ll give you back these, they seem pretty important, and Proroc just wants to hang them in the new exhibit, or destroy them.”

Keith nodded grabbing for them, “Ok! Give!” 

The assistant pulled them back, “Nope! Answer my questions first.”

Keith gave up reaching and sank down a little, “Fine, what?”

“How many mer were in your shoal?”

“One.” The words flew from him before he had a chance to lie.

The assistant raised an eyebrow, “You only had one other in your shoal?”

Keith was growing impatient, but he desperately wanted the bracelets, oh and he wanted to know how he had magic, so he complied, a little, “Yes, now answer me. How’d you do the calming magic?”

The assistant was writing, “How old are you?”

“No answer my question!”

He adjusted his glasses, “I will get to that, I have just a few more.”

Keith growled, but had to think about it, “Around 6,570 cycles of the sun, or 18 phases.”

He glances at Keith, shocked perhaps by the large number Keith knew off the top of his head, but wrote it down anyway, “You mentioned other types of mer, so what type are you?”

Keith’s mind screamed, lie he will never know, save your own damn skin for once.

“I’m a betta.”

He froze then looked up, “What you are,” He set down the note pad, “Is full of shit.”

Keith nearly choked, “What? No-I-I’m really-It’s- I’m only half.” Damn it damn it damn it…

The assistants eyes met Keith’s, he didn’t seem convinced, yet he wrote it down. He held out one bracelet, which Keith immediately snatched from his grip. Holding it close to his heart, It’s enchantment still held strong, allowing keith to feel a bit more comfortable. His racing heart had slowed to normal and he almost felt fine. Still he knew he needed the other one.

“See it’s not so bad if you just talk instead of thrashing about or making that awful hissing noise,” the assistant chuckled, “Alright, I’m one to keep my word, you can ask some questions.”

Keith had many questions, but one still loomed above all else, “How were you able to cast a comforting spell like that? And without even using your voice?”

He fiddled with his glasses, “I think that’s a story for another time.”

Keith growled, “But you said-“

“I said it’s for another time. Like you don’t trust me, I do not trust you. You would sell me out in a heartbeat if it meant you could go home,” he paused letting the harsh words settle under Keith’s skin, “As would I.”

Keith felt his heart sink, he disliked how lowly the human thought of him, but hated it even more because he knew it was true. He left the question alone, but he needed to know, 

“Do you have a name?” Keith wondered out loud, “I’ve never heard anyone call you by anything really and I hate having to say Proroc’s little assistant every time I think, or talk shit about you.”

A chuckle, “Well I suppose that’s fair information to trade, after all your loudmouth boyfriend told me your name is Keith,” he smiled gently, 

“Well Keith, I’m Adam.”

Adam...Adam… why did the name seem so familiar? He felt like it was at the tip of his tongue… WAIT! Boyfriend? Did this mean Lance liked him? Or the just way he was a merman? Maybe it was because he thought Keith would help him in some way get to his family, but before he could wrap his head around it all, he heard Adam being called for. Watching him closely as he stood up, Adam gave him a weak smile, 

“Don’t be so quick to cut Lance out, ok? And let him watch you practice, your not bad for a ‘half beta’.”

So it had been obvious he was lying, but how?

And just like that he was gone, walking to do whatever he was tasked with next. All the questions floating around Keith’s head didn’t slow the sun from falling, bringing the coolness of the Lunar rays. Keith had resurfaced, waiting patiently for Lance. He hated how found he was of Lance, and had just figured Lance was using him, but after the slowest part of the day had left his mind wondering if it was really love. Keith didn’t want to claim love before he even knew anything other his name, his family is alive somewhere, he has been trying to help Keith ever since he got here. Despite the lack of knowledge, he did care for Lance, a lot. He had tried to push all the questions of the day aside when he saw the shiny eyes of Lance.

“Hey fish breath!” He greeted, sitting near the edge, “Your back feeling better?”

Keith smiled resting his head against the lip of the pool, where his gills could still be somewhat submerged, “Yeah, I think I just overreacted, but I’m not used to people having such easy access to just do whatever to me.” 

Lance looked down, guilt was radiating off of him, “No it’s my fault I didn’t warn you. I just figured if you didn’t know when it was coming it would hurt as bad. Then again I didn’t know Proroc was gonna aim for your spine like that,” He slightly looked up, his eyes looked watery.

Keith looked into his eyes, “Wasn’t your fault I’m a guppy.” He tried his best to I’ve a goofy smile, though he supposed it didn’t work due to Lance raised eyebrow and shocked face.

“Did I make a bad face?” He questioned, suddenly extremely embarrassed.

At first nothing, then a soft laugh “No silly, it’s just I didn’t think you were one for being so goofy.” His smile made Keith feel warm.

“Here,” Lance slide something into Keith’s reach, “I laminated it so the water won’t affect it as long as you don’t damage it.” 

Keith carefully picked it up and held it were he could read it. To his surprise it was a real sirens spell cast song, 

“Lance, where did you find this?”

Lance looked a little sheepish, “Well I didn’t exactly find it, why? Is it not a real one or something?”

Keith read over it again, “No this is defiantly a siren song, but where?”

Lance relaxed, allowing his shoulders to sag, and his tone of voice slightly more confident, yet still holding the hush of secrecy,

“Oh, simple, Adam gave it to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support! I’m excited to continue this and I hope you all love it as much as I do! Thank you!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance leaves Keith alone for a day while he looks for more songs, bad idea, Shiro Allura and Lotor learn some uplifting news

Keith had gotten really good at singing, or maybe he was always good just in the shadow of his mother it was never relevant. Either way once Lance had heard him sing, he had come back every night to listen, some nights he never left. Keith had gotten the simple sweet dreams song down, and he would often use it on Lance, with his permission of course. Keith gently hummed out the tune, but quickly found himself softly singing the spell,

Bring to me the sweetest of silence  
Stop my mind from enduring the violence  
Ease my lifelong vivid dreams  
And cast these nightmares now to cease

It was sorta a comfort to have a song that was meant for good, and even if Keith lacked the ability to use good magic, still worked for good. Keith rolled gently through the waves, it felt good to use magic and not fear someone would find out. 

Just above the surface Keith heard his name, it was extremely dark and the sun had finished its cycle for the day. Keith surfaced to see Lance’s bright smile that also most didn’t need the dim flashlight to be seen,

“Hey mullet, I got you something you might be able to better use.” 

He handed keith another laminated tree slice, or paper as Lance liked to call it.

Keith gasped softly reading over the words, “Where did you find this?!” Keith whisper yelled.

“An old book, why? Does it say something bad? I can’t read it you know.” Lance responded leaning over the water, “Could you translate it without casting it?”

Keith nodded and made sure he wasn’t in the mindset to sing before starting, 

“Watch through victims eye’s glass, soon my power lasts, You cannot escape, neither asleep nor awake, I shine upon you the dark eye song, get used to it, it stays ‘round long.” 

He had spoken slowly, he hadn’t sung, this was all good news. However, Lance had managed to find him a dark magic song, maybe Lance didn’t realize it, or just maybe Lance trusted Keith a lot more than he let knew.

“What’s it all mean?” Lance asked sitting a little closer.

“Lance, It’s a dark magic spell.” Keith’s eyes scanned the page again,

“Basically it a blinding spell of sorts. It blinds a target with images of horrific scenes, like blood dripping everywhere, or perhaps everyone around you dropping dead.” 

Lance looked horrified, “You didn’t actually cast it did you?”

“Unless you are seeing in horror scenes, then no.”

Lance’s breathing seemed to slow back down, and Keith got curious staring at his chest, did his heart beat just like Keith’s? Or was it faster? Slower? He wanted to know…

“Could you use it? Or can sirens only sing of lust?” A playful tone fell over the words, and for once Keith didn’t mind being called a siren.

“Oh we can do a lot more than just sing of lust Lance,” He paused the pushed himself out of the water a little, “We can also eat a human in one bite!”

Lance stumbled back biting his hand to muffle the scream that had attempted escape, all the while Keith was quietly laughing sinking back into the water.

“Don’t do that!” Lance voice held panic, “You realize how scaring you are when you lunge?”

Keith chuckled, “We can’t really, but it was worth the lie to get a scare out of you.”

 

They playful nature of Lance’s visits got to be more and more so. Lance had searched every book he could find for the different spells he would bring to Keith. Everyday, like a routine, Lance would visit the surprisingly happy Keith, that is until that one fateful day.

Lance hadn’t been to the pool area all day, he had been helping Hunk and researching siren songs. As nightfall settled over the sky he walked out into the pool area, and right to the edge of Keith’s tank. He gently knelt down and called out,

“Keith!” 

Nothing. It was super odd, he always came when Lance visited. He tried again with no new reaction. Lance started to feel worry rising in him, he tried one more time. Relief washed over him as a shadow swam up, although it seemed slower and more cautious this time. When he finally surface his face didn’t hold the cheerful emotion he was expecting. No, instead it had been replaced by rage.

“Hey buddy, you alright?” Lance asked reaching out to brush some of his long hair from his face.

Keith moved out of reach and let out a hiss, “How could you even ask that?” He looked like he was in pain, maybe he was.

“Do you need help? Did you hurt yourself? Did they hurt you?” He asked trying to look over Keith.

Keith’s hands splashed at the water, “Damn right I need help, and you weren’t there. I thought you promised to help me?” The last part faded into the night air, settling right under Lance’s skin.

“Wh-what do you mean?” 

Lance felt betrayed, how could Keith say that? He had helped Keith, he had made sure to protect Keith as much as he could.

“You would have known if you have been there!” He was getting more and more worked up, “They dragged me up to the dry ground, they destroyed the bracelets, they took one of my scales, they- they…” Tears had gathered in his eyes streaming down his face. Lance was mortified, but the last words were like a hard punch right to the gut,

“And it’s all your fault!”

Lance tried not to take it personal, Keith was just upset, right?

“Keith, let me see your tail, I’ll try to ease the pain, but you have to calm down.” Lance reached for his tail, Keith however had a different plan. He bite Lance’s hand, not hard enough to break it, just to make a point. Lance ripped his hand bad, dark red blood ran slowly down his hand, dripping the concrete below, staining it. Keith was too worked up, Lance knew it the second he saw the flashlights coming out the monitor room. 

“Keith, ok take a deep breath, I know your mad but please-“

Too late, the two with flashlights approached. 

“Lance?”

Lance whipped around, “Pidge? Adam?”

“What’s going on? Why is it showing so much aggression?” Pidge asked taking a step away from the pool.

“He is angry about his missing scale and the jewelry.” 

Adam’s words were right to the point and Keith’s growl only confirmed what Lance’s thought, Adam was assisting Proroc when it happened.

“Keith, please tell me what happened, I want to help!” Lance was pleading, yet Keith’s tone didn’t change.

“You should have been there, you weren’t. I guess it was a mistake to trust you after all.” The words sliced through the nights air, leaving painful gashes in Lance’s mind. Air rushed from his mouth as it hung open, he found it increasingly harder to get air back in his lungs. Keith wasn’t done either, but Adam cut him off before he had a chance to continue the assault on Lance,

“Keith, stop it now. Lance had no way of knowing this was going to happen, if you must be angry at someone blame me.”

He seemed just as angry as the merman in the dark waters below. Pidge had stepped farther away from the tank, Lance however stepped closer. 

“You know what? I do blame you.” Keith snarled and spat the words, “You held me there, you knew it was painful as hell, yet you used a spell and made it worse.”

“I did it to help you, the more you squirm and thrash about, the worse everything gets for you. I know you don’t see it, but it’s true.” Adam’s voice held no fear, maybe this was due to the magic Keith claimed Adam had.

“Wait, you really did use magic on him?”

All eyes turned to Pidge. 

“Yes, it’s the only way I could get him to hold completely still, and insure he didn’t make things a thousand times worse.”

Lance wasn’t near as shocked as he felt he should be, but just a month ago he didn’t believe in mer people either.

“You took away all my power, my ability to fight back! It’s not fair, and I don’t know where you learned it was.” 

From what Lance could see Keith was shaking, from anger or the memory of that afternoon, Lance didn’t know. All that he was for certain of was there is a lot of things he didn’t understand. 

After glancing back at the monitoring room, Adam knelt down beside the tank, “Keith, please, I need you to calm down,” he paused for a moment before looking back at Keith, “If you can do that, I’ll explain everything.”

Lance watched, hoping Keith would swallow his pride for ten minutes and hear Adam out, mostly because he wanted to hear the story as well. After about a full minute of Lance trying his best to soothe Keith’s ever burning anger and pain, he stopped shaking, his once ragged breath now slowed to a normal pace. 

Adam sat down next to the water, followed by Lance and Pidge, who still kept her distance from the water.

“I’m not from this human world, well, not originally at least. I have been forced to adapt and conform, it’s not easy going from swimming to walking, but it is doable.” His chuckle held a slight pain to it.

“What happened? How can a merman go from breathing water to breathing air and walking?” Keith asked sitting on the ledge and resting his chin on the edge of the concrete.

“I was trying to protect someone I loved deeply, and it cost me big time. If I hadn’t been so eager to fight, I could have avoided the conflict, or changed the outcome at least. Sadly, this fighter was in my nature, I’m a beta mer after all.” He glanced at Keith, who had connected the dots on how he figured out Keith’s bluff so quickly.

“I had a loving boyfriend, a good life, yet such a horrible temper. One day a shark mer came to take him from me, so I tried to fight back. At first my attempts were canceled by him, but then he gave me an opening. My boyfriend, all to ready to give himself up for me had given me a clear shot to the shark mer’s body. I thought I was helping, I really did, but once the arrow pierced the skin of his forearm did I realize the mistake I had made.” 

Adam then rolled up his sleeve and exposed the scarred skin on his arm, “I wasn’t quick enough, or strong enough. He had ripped into me without hesitation and not only did my arm suffer, but my neck and some of my face. I was losing blood too quickly to survive, yet somehow I did. The last thing I remembered before I blacked out was being dragged quickly through the water, and away from my lover.” He ran a hand over the scarred tissue on his neck.

Keith voice was soft now, it almost made him sound shy, “Sharks don’t typically bring back food anywhere, they eat it or leave it to rot.”

Adam nodded, “That’s what made no sense, but when I woke up again I was in some sort of underwater cave. The shark was still there, my body still hurt, but I wasn’t dead or bleeding. My fin had been torn awful bad, but I could move it, so I considered dashing for the entrance of the cave, but a voice stopped me dead in my thoughts. The sea witch.”

Lance shivered, the name was enough to scare him, “The sea witch?” He questioned.

Nodding Adam continued, “She had told me I couldn’t escape, not only did she have power over my weak mind, but her right hand shark mer would easily catch me. I realized I had limited options, I decided to hear her out. She told me if I helped her, she would help me. See before I’d been attacked, she had sent her shark mer, Sendak, out to get my boyfriend, not me. So I made her a deal, I would help her and in return, she would never bother either of us again. She wanted help in little ways at first, but as time went on she needed help with bigger projects that only a mer person who knew magic could assist with, so she taught me limited magic I could cast without opening my mouth to sing, less obvious that way.” He paused almost like he was making sure everyone was caught up so far.

“I learned to walk relatively quick, but I remember breathing was always a scary thing, waiting for the burning feeling, yet it never came. Slowly it got to be normal. I started getting bigger tasks and so on and so forth, then one day she told me I would be heading here with Proroc, all she told me was there was a mer child in captivity who was causing all sorts of problems.” He smiled lightly, “turns out the definition of a child varies from merfolk to humans. But no matter, I know what she wants, and I know what I want. If I can successfully complete this task, I will be granted my fins and with it my freedom.” He sighed, a grim expression still sat on his face.

“I truly am sorry for all of this, but I will do what I need to in able to get back to him, I just hope he’s still alive.”

“What if he has already moved on?” Pidge asked timidly from beside Lance.

“Well, there is nothing that can be done, I will not try to take him back. It was my fault what happened to me, not his, never his. So if he is happy, then so will I be.”

Pain washed over Keith’s expression, “I understand, I have someone who took me in after my shoal was attacked, I would do anything to get back home as well.”

Lance stared at the two, he thought he had it bad until this moment. He had always thought he was sacrificing himself for his family. But now it all seemed hazy, Keith would more than likely never make it back to the sea, and Adam’s lover could have already moved on or worse be dead. Lance knew it wasn’t a competition, but he felt it made his complaining sound irrelevant.

Lance sat by the tank that night, refusing to go back into the building with Pidge and Adam. No, he would much rather spend that night with Keith, who had drifted to sleep on the shallow ledge about a foot under the cool water. Lance found himself gently running his hands through Keith’s long jet black hair, humming an old song his mom used to sing him to sleep with.

 

 

~

 

Shiro had volunteered to go first, gentle slicing the palm of his hand and pressing it to the pillar, he didn’t think he’s be the one, he wasn’t very pure after all, and he was right, nothing happened. Lotor offered to go next, his blood taking Shiro’s spot, yet sadly still nothing. But when Allura placed her bleeding palm to the pillar, a pink luminous glow appeared, and trailed to the stone slab. Of course Allura would be it, she was the kindest soul Shiro knew. Allura herself seemed shocked, but she swam over and looked at the now lit stone. A small chisel was now floating above it, and the names were glowing different colors and now had labels by each one. Her eyes skimmed over a few of the carefully written names,  
Kara Sentra - deceased  
Torin Kor-Suffering and close to death  
Noah Shkan- stable  
With a steady hand she took the chisel, then turned to Shiro, 

“You ready?”

“Of course.”

“No matter what we are here for you, you know that right?”

“Allura, please don’t..”

“I just don’t want to watch your hopes get crushed again, ok?”

Shiro nodded, gently biting his lip as Allura etched Keith’s name into the stone. They all waited, no one seemed to be breathing. Everyone staring at the stone, waiting. Then a bubble floated above the stone, it showed the surface. Shiro didn’t know where exactly it was, it didn’t appear to be sand or grass. Then the image cleared up, It showed a human boy sitting near the water, he seemed to be doing something right below the surface, was he dumb? Didn’t he know how easily a mer could eat him? Then the bubble wavered, the image was now clear as shallow water on a sunny day. This human boy was gently petting a merman, and the merman was Keith. He wasn’t fighting back or trying to get away, although Shiro could see he looked thinner much much thinner, he had a wound somewhere due to the blood he could see circling in crimson strands around in the water. The human boy stopped touching Keith’s hair and moved to gently run his hand down Keith’s tail. It made Shiro want to jump through the bubble and help Keith, save him, stop the human boy from touching him anymore. Shiro’s mind began to go to dark places, what had they already done to him? What were they going to do? The image slowly faded, then the bubble popped. Three words were etched into the stone next to Keith’s name.

Keith Kogane- Suffering but Alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this! I hope you are all enjoying it!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm

Adam’s story had seemed so familiar to Keith, but it wasn’t until he had dozed off did he remember. Shiro had told him a story like that, or at least in his dream he did. That lead to all sorts of other questions and dark thoughts. His dream quickly became a nightmare, Shiro’s beaten bloody corpse rotting somewhere, or maybe someone had caught him too. But the nightmare that scared Keith the most was the one where Shiro was fine. He was not looking for Keith, he wasn’t concerned, he didn't care. It sent Keith into a panic, ‘No no’ he thought. ‘This can’t be happening, he’s my brother he cares, please.’

Suddenly his eyes burst open, “Shiro!” He gasped his gills taking in more and more water. Keith hadn’t realized just how close to the surface he was until a hand began to comb through his hair,

“Shh, it’s alright.”

Lance. Keith set all his previous anger aside for another time, sucked in as much water as his gills could and sealed them closed in a way, and lunged up and wrapped his arms around Lance. Lance didn’t move at first, he was warm a good warm. Then arms hugged him back, and for the first time since he got here he felt safe, actually safe. Lance was gentle with Keith as he helped him back into the water, although the dark seemed to be affecting his eyesight.

“Hey, what happened? Why did you jump out?” Lance questioned, still drowsy from just waking up.

“It sounds silly, but I had a nightmare.”

A pause, “Don’t worry Keith, I get them too.”

Keith felt Lance’s hands retreat from his tail and back, he moved closer to the edge trying to keep close. Lance got nightmares? 

“Are you alright?”

Keith nodded but when Lance didn’t react he realized lance’s eyesight wasn’t as good in the dark, so he spoke up softly,

“I’ll be fine.”

“Didn’t the air burn your gills when you came up?”

“No, I held my breath, sorta,” Keith explained.

“How long can you hold your breath?”

“I don’t know, probably not long.”

Lance nodded softly, “We can work with that.”

“What do you mean?” Keith found himself leaning closer, hope slowly creeping into his heart.

“Oh, Adam and I are going to get you out of here,” even through the dark, Keith could see the beaming smirk on Lance’s face.

“REALLY-“

“Shhh! Are you trying to get us in trouble?!”

“Are you for real? This isn’t a mean human trick?”

Lance chuckled, “I make no promises, but yeah, we are sure as hell gonna try.”

Keith felt his heart race, he was going home. He would see Shiro again, he would be safe again. Then something tugged at the back of his mind, what would happen to Lance and his family once they realized he helped Keith escape? Closing his gills once more he pushed himself up and wrapped his arms around Lance,

“Thank you.” Came his raspy voice, tears started to run down his face, when he felt Lance’s around him, one rubbing his back. 

“Woah, hey now, why are you crying?”

“You-you risk so so much,” his throat hurt and he felt weak crying, but Lance was so soothing, so kind.

“Shhhh, Keith it’s ok, I know what I’m doing. Adam has a plan, but he says you have to be willing to trust him.”

“What do I have to do?”

“He will explain when he gets here.”

Lance let Keith go gently, so he sank back into the cool liquid of the enclosure. Keith greedily sucked in water. Lance pushed some of Keith’s hair behind his ear, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. 

Lance looked hesitant, then he leaned down and kissed Keith’s forehead, “Besides, I trust him.”

Keith’s face erupted in a bright red blush, did Lance kiss him? Maybe just on forehead but still, Keith felt like the water turned a hundred degrees hotter. Lance’s chuckle brought him back to reality,

“What? Don’t tell me no one's ever kissed you before.”

Keith felt somehow even more embarrassed and lightly shook his head.

“Wait, like not even your mom on your cheek, or forehead?”

Just more head shaking. Lance looked like it was something unheard of, Keith didn't think it was abnormal. He knew his mom loved him, she had told him before, but sirens typically weren’t real affectionate with their guppies. 

“I’m sorry, Keith that’s awful.”

“Is it?” Keith asked softly.

“Yeah! Moms are supposed to love and support their kids!” Lance said moving closer to the water.

“Oh, well that’s not how merfolk work, at least I don’t think so.”

“Maybe sirens are just that way.”

Keith had never thought of it that way. Maybe it was just sirens, the only other mer he knew was Shiro and Shiro was a shark mer, so he spent plenty of time isolated from others. He thought about it, what if other mer did show tons of affection? Oh well, what’s been done is done. So instead of getting angry at the accusation, Keith replied simply,

“Yeah, maybe.”

 

 

It was just as the sun had risen to the middle of the sky did Keith see Adam.

“Hey bud,” came Adams greeting. 

“Hi Adam, I have a question.”

“Alright, shoot.”

Keith cocked his head, “No, I don’t want to shoot you, I want to ask you something about your story last night.”

Adam just let out a soft chuckle at Keith’s confusion, “ask away.”

“It sounded familiar to me, what’s the name of your boyfriend?”

Adam paused, he smiled softly, “Takashi, but his nickname was Shiro.”

Keith nearly choked on the water, “TAKASHI SHIROGANE?” He pushing himself out of the water

Adam stepped back, “Calm down but yeah, how did you know that?”

“HE’S MY BROTHER!” 

Adam stepped closer, “wait you mean..”

“Not biologically, but I lived with him after my shoal was killed off!”

“He’s the one that took you in?!”

Keith nodded trying to hold himself up only to have Adam help him back down. After a couple seconds of silence Adam spoke again, 

“Alright, then I’m getting you home as soon as possible. It might be tricky for me and Lance to get you past the guards, but I think I can do it…”

“What do I have to do?”

Adam never made eye contact, “You, my scaley friend have the easiest job.”

“That is…?”

“Simple, you have to kill Proroc.”

He said it so casually it almost made Keith sick. Kill him? Was he crazy? Adam must of noticed Keith fighting around and making a confused face,

“You are a siren, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah but-”

“Then this is just a normal day for you, just like killing anyone else. It’s simple I’ll provide you a soul stealing song cast spell, then you sing in and force Proroc to jump into the waves and take his soul. With it, you should have a little extra boost to help get you out of here quicker.”

Keith’s jaw hung open for many reasons, “Why did you tell me this?! Isn’t there like someway they are always listening? And what about the monitor that tracks my mood or whatever it is? Or what if i can’t do it?”

Adam chuckled, “You think I wouldn’t find a way to block those audio recorders?” Keith had no clue what that meant so he kept quite,

“Look, Pidge is blocking the signal sporadically, giving me time to tell you this.” He looked at his watch then back to Keith.

“I know you can sing very well, Lance has told me, so I know this won’t be a problem. I’ll have Lance give you the song tonight, in the morning-er- when the sun rises again I’ll bring Proroc out here and you will sing.”

“What if it works and you and Lance are also affected?”

“Not an issue, already thought up a plan for that, don’t worry you’ll be fine.”

Adam patted Keith on his head and stood up walking back to the monitor room, leaving Keith all alone with his thoughts. The usual happened, Adam collected small blood samples from Keith’s arm, he had learned not to fear the needles as much. Then he was questioned for a few hours, although he never gave away any needed information if he could help it. Lastly as the sun fell, bringing darkness to the sky, Lance joined him by the water.

“Hey mullet!”

Keith laid his head on the edge of the concrete, “Hey legs.”

“Legs?”

“Yeah, cause you have weak legs compared to strong fins.” Keith’s proud retaliation made Lance chuckle.

“Ok, whatever mullet,” He pulled out the spell cast song Adam had given him, “You ready?

“No.”

“Why not? You’ll get to go free.” Lance kept his voice hushed. 

“Speaking of which, we have to do one more little thing,” Lance then produced a small scalpel making Keith push away from the edge, “What are you doing?” Keith said watching the shar object closely.

“Well, remember how I wouldn’t tell you where that monitor was?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s because it’s been implanted under the skin of your back.”

“WHAT?!”

“Hush! I’m going to rid you of it so tomorrow flows smoothly.” Lance gently grabbed Keith’s arm pulling him back to the edge. He then put a leg on either side of him to ensure he stayed still. Keith was panicking, it wasn’t like he didn’t trust Lance, he did, but he hated things cutting him, which he thought was a fair reaction. Lance made a small incision right below his left shoulder blade. Keith flinched, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. Lance kept apologizing as he cut the implant from Keith’s back. Once he got it out, he began sticking Keith up before Keith could protest.

“Won’t they realize it’s gone now?”

“Nope,” Lance said confidently, finishing his stitching, “Pidge has agreed to manually input data to make it look like it is still operating.”

“Can you tell her thanks? From me?” Keith said softly.

“Of course.”

They sat in silence until Lance spoke up, “It doesn’t hurt too bad right?”

“Little sore, but it’ll be alright.”

“Want me to kiss it better?”

Keith froze up, but before he could even comprehend what was going on, Lance placed a gentle kiss right above the stiches. Then he turned Keith around and looked him in the eye,

“Better?”

Nodding, he responded without thinking, “My lips hurt,” which he instantly regretted and started to apologize, “I’m sorry I-“

“Well we can’t have your lips hurting, can we now?”

Keith’s breath caught, was this really happening? Lance leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on Keith’s lips. It was soft and caring, and he tasted like some sort of fruit. It took him a minute, but Keith kissed back slowly, not wanting to hurt him with his sharp teeth. Keith felt like the kiss lasted forever, but then Lance pulled back for air, and chuckled as he watched Keith try to cover his beat red face,

“No, you look cuter when I can see you.”

Still blushing Keith smiled, “You’re cute too, you know.”

“I do know, but thanks,” he tilted Keith’s chin up, “We are going to get you home if it’s the last thing I do.”

“About that, I don’t think I can do it Lance, Adam’s made a mistake.”

“Dude, Adam spent all night working on this, trust me he requested I be allowed to assist him on a special paper, aka the escape plan. He’s thought of everything, trust me.”

However, Lance may have thought Adam had thought of everything but he didn’t account for the fact Keith had neither killed anyone before with a spell cast song, nor taken a soul. His mother had been very skilled in taking souls, since Keith had never had to age one before, she had never told him how. Now, he was expected to take a soul without screwing it up for Adam and Lance. 

Tomorrow was going to be hell.

 

 

——  
Shiro felt his heart pounding, Keith was alive. Maybe he was suffering, but he was alive. Shiro looked to Allura,

“How do we get to him?”

“I-I Don’t know. He’s somewhere I’ve never seen before.”

Both looked to Lotor, who had stayed quite. He was facing away and mumbling to himself.

“Lotor, do you know where this is?”

Nothing, then he turned around, “No, I’m very sorry. I don’t know where that area is.”

“I know you are hiding something,” Shiro spoke up swimming over to him, “You know more than you are letting on.”

Lotor backed up, “Ok I may have an idea, but trust me the likelihood of all of us making it there is unlikely. But I can just maybe get there.”

“What do you mean?” Allura inquired.

“It’s complicated, but you have to trust me.”

“That’s not happening.”

Allura and Lotor turned to Shiro, who now wore an irritated expression,

“I don’t trust you, you’ve been hiding things since the moment we met,” he turned to Allura, “Allura, do you really even know him?”

Allura bit her lip, “Well, I mean we have been friends for a while, and so what he likes to keep some things secrets, we all have secrets, Shiro.”

Shaking his head Shiro continued, “Lotor, you hiding things from me, especially things about my brother, is a quick way to meet your end.”

“Alright, I may know some things, and I think I can help,” his eyes finally met with Shiro’s, “Let me help the way I know, this way I can help keep you and Keith safe.”

Allura placed a gentle hand on Shiro’s scarred arm, “Shiro please, If you wait for Lotor with me maybe I can get you into the city for a few nights. Then we can work on what we have to do once we get Keith back into the water.”

“After we get him back in the water, he will be safe.”

“Humans are greedy, nasty beings, Shiro, they won’t let something so precious like him escape so easily.” Lotor’s voice had regained confidence.

Shiro expression didn’t change, although Allura’s softened, “Shiro we will get him back. What is it you always say? Patience yields focus?”

Nodding Shiro turned to Lotor, “Fine, Three rising of the sun, that’s all you get, or I will hunt you down and eat you, understood?”

“Yes sir, I can do it.”

“Alright, don’t let me down, Lotor.”

Allura smiled softly watching Lotor bolt from the cave. She took Shiro’s arm, “Let’s go, he’ll be fine” 

“I sure as hell hope so, I can’t take much more of this.”

“I think Lotor will surprise you.”

Shiro looked down, “So do I just go home for three sun rises? I don’t think I’ll survive that long.”

“Weren’t you listening? I said you can stay in the city!”

“Are you joking? I’m a predator, Allura. They will never allow me in, and will most likely kill me before I could explain. Hell they’ll see you and think I fishnapped you! They all hate my people’s guts,” Shiro said, swimming out beside her.

“Shiro, Adam was an Altean, correct?”

“Y-yeah… but that’s different-“

“Adam saw good in you, I will help the others see what he saw, and what I see. We can strengthen our allies with predator mer who are willing to follow our rules, please help me try.”

Shiro sighed, “You aren’t going to take no for an answer, are you?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Alright, I’ll try to help, but the second any weapons are drawn I’m getting the hell outta dodge. I’m not getting killed before I get Keith back.”

“Deal!”

Shiro smiled softly, following after her as she headed back for Altea. Shiro tried not to think about if Lotor failed, but it seemed to be all his was capable of doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who are still supporting me! It means so much to me!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith’s song works, sorta, Shiro is beginning to think Allura’s insane

The sun rose slow as ever, and Keith watched every moment of it. Sleep wouldn't come to him no matter how hard he tried, leaving him feeling like he could collapse at any given second. So he laid his head on the edge of the concrete waiting. Lance was very concerned when he came to feed.

“Yo Keith! What’s wrong?”

Groggily Keith mumbled, “doesn’t matter.”

Lance sat in front of him, “well this might cheer you up, Hunk made some special treats!”

Keith perked up a little, “Food?”

With a nod Lance reached into the small bag and pulled out a small container. To Keith, it smelled odd, so he held out his hand.

“Hold on mullet, whaddya say?”

“I’m starving, Lance, I don’t want to fight you for it.”

“Nope that’s- wait what?”

“I’m starving?”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “No, you said you didn’t want to fight me for it. You have fought for food a lot then, I assume.”

Keith nodded, “It happens. Sirens, or any mer I’ve ever met, aren’t the best with ‘sharing’, food now.” He reaches his hand out again.

Lance chuckled softly and handed him a fish stick. Keith sniffed it before hesitatingly took a bite. 

“Ew, why does it taste like this? It is fish isn’t it?”

“Yes-”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing! It's good see,” he stated and took a bite of one, “Yummy, it’s cooked fish.”

Keith gagged and tossed the fish stick back at Lance, “Not cooked, ruins taste. What else?”

“Well, I have something you may like a little more,” he held out a container of sushi.

Keith cocked his head and sniffed at the container, “What is it?”

“Just try it, it’s not cooked, I promise.”

Keith reaches out and Lance places one in his hand, it was cold and felt weird. Looking up he saw Lance’s bright smile, so he stuck it in his mouth. It wasn’t half bad, so he reached out again, “More?”

“Here,” Lance set the open container next to the water so Keith could reach.

Grinning Keith ate another. Lance stretched his legs out and looked down, “you ready?”

“I don’t think I can’t do it, Lance,” he said downing another.

“Oh come on, it’s just a simple song isn’t it? Just like singing any other song!”

“No! It’s all about hitting the correct notes, projecting pain into the tone, stirring up ones own blood to take another’s, and so much more.” 

Lance could hear the panic in his voice, “Alright, it’s not simple, but you can do it I know you can.”

He sounded so sure, yet Keith wasn’t convinced. Exhaling sharply Keith grunted, “I can’t do it.”

“Adam is counting on it.” 

“Tell him I can’t,” Keith whined.

Glancing behind him, Lance chuckled softly upon seeing no one. He leaned over the water and tilted Keith’s chin up. Then he pressed his lips against Keith’s in a passionate fashion. This time Keith kissed back immediately. After a minute Lance pulled back for air,

“I know you can do it, you so much better than you believe you are.”

Keith, still red from the kiss, shook his head, “...no, I’m sorry Lance I’m not good enough.”

Adam walked out, “Lance, what is taking so long, Proroc is going to be out any minute.”

“He says he can’t.”

“Tell him he has no choice.”

Lance turned back to Keith, “Come on you have to, Keith.”

“No, I can’t-“

“Adam, I will not repeat myself, what could possibly be so important that I am needed alone out here?”

Proroc walked with Adam only a few steps behind him, “Simply he is misbehaving, biting, attempting to drown someone, and no one else could get him under control, so I thought you could try.” 

“Try? I will make the stupid fish wish it was never born.” Proroc stepped forward as Lance back off.

Adam handed Lance a pair of noise canceling earbuds. Then he looked to Keith and nodded. Proroc had gone to a table to grab something, Keith couldn’t see what, but he didn’t want to find out. Proroc turned around, he had a odd pair of scissors, the insides of which appeared to have small sharp blades, and an iron chain. He approached the tank, if Keith was honest he found himself unable to retreat. Just as he snapped out of it and went to dive, a large hand caught him around his gills, ripping a scream from him. Proroc placed him on the dry ground, and held him there. He slid the weird scissors under a scale on Keith’s hip, then SNIP. Pain once again tore through his body, he felt the blood begin to run down his tail. Lance went to attack Proroc, but Adam stopped him,

“Lance, he has to do this, if he doesn’t collect that soul he won't make it to the open ocean.”

However, Proroc made one extravagant error, he didn't restain Keith with the iron chain. Proroc chuckled at the amount of blood now leaking from Keith’s side and shoved him back into the water, turning to walk back towards Adam and Lance. Anger flooded Keith, they had taken more from him and it crossed the line. Keith trembled hesitant at first, then began to sing causing Proroc to turn around,

“Bloods thick and full of greed,   
Feel your body as it begins to grows weak  
I’ll end your suffering, a merciful deed  
Your mind no more to wonder or seek  
Now hear my deadly song in each and every breath  
It sentences you now to your death  
Now with my magic which I cast in a flood  
I draw what flows in your veins, your blood  
Join me now in waters deep  
Inside your lungs the water will seep  
Now forever on your soul is mine to keep,”

Keith cracked open one eye, but Proroc, in his trance, had stopped just short of the water. Slowly he began to gain awareness, and Keith was petrified. However, before Keith could react, he watched as Adam had charged Proroc, shoving him into the dark water. 

“KILL HIM!” Adam screamed.

Keith panicked but bit into Proroc’s neck, tearing flesh. Blood swirled around the water, Proroc screamed, but it did him no good. He hit at Keith, making Keith let go. Adam watched in horror as he surfaced, yet he wasn’t above water long. With a splash Proroc disappeared under the water. The water stilled for a few moments before something began to surface. Keith’s jet black hair broke the surface of the water, and although the water had washed away most the blood, streaks could faintly be seen across his face and staining his hands. Proroc stood no chance in the sirens territory.

“Did you take his soul?” Adam knelt down.

Keith nodded, “He had to be in the water, so I think so…”

“It’ll have to do.”

“What now?” Keith voice was hoarse.

“Close your gills and give me your hand,” Adam said reaching down. Keith grabbed ahold, and Adam lifted him halfway up where Lance grabbed his waist gently and helped him the rest of the way. 

With a grunt, Lance pointed, “I parked that way.”

And with that Adam and Lance placed him on a platform truck, careful of his bleeding wound. As they passed the monitoring room Lance nodded to Pidge, who had been systematically blacking out cameras, he owed her big time. 

With the sun climbing higher and higher in the sky it was a race against time to get Keith to the van. Ahead, blocking the exit gates was bound to be a guard. Thinking quickly Adam tosses a tarp over Keith,

“Ok Lance follow my lead, and Keith don’t move and keep quiet.”

The moved forward in less of a rushed pace, the guard stepped forward, “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Well Corvus, you see Haggar desperately needs these objects, but she asked for them not to be tampered with.” Adam said confidently.

The guard, Corvus, chuckled, “Yeah and I’m volunteering for this job, grow up Adam what’s under the tarp?”

Adam hissed, “Exactly what I have told you, now you wouldn’t want to explain to Haggar why these are delayed, would you?”

“Maybe I would, Take the tarp off.” It was a command 

“Corvus, knock it off, just let us through,” Adam said through gritted teeth.

Keith gills were on fire, and salting up badly. Slowly he reached out and grabbed Lances ankle. Lance shot Adam a panicked look. He had been careful, yet Corvus saw the movement.

“Corvus, trust me, just this once let us through,” Adam pleaded.

With a sigh he hit the button and the gates began to open, “I’m going to suffer deeply for this,” he paused then turned to Lance, “Get him the hell away from here, and do it quick.”

Lance grinned, “Thank you, I will.”

In seconds they were at the van, Adam helped Keith inside then handed Lance the spray bottle.

“It isn’t much,” Lance said softly, sitting next to him and sprayed Keith’s gills, “But it was all we could do.”

Keith only nodded, however a large grin began to spread across his face. He was going to be free, he was going home, he would see Shiro again. Then he glanced at Lance, who seemed distant, like his mind was not in the van, but somewhere far away. That lead Keith to wonder, at what cost was his freedom.

 

 

——

Shiro grumbled as the approached the gates of Altea.

“Oh quit your whining, shark boy.”

“No! This is a bad idea, I’m sorry but deep down you know I’m right.” 

“It’s not a bad idea, It’s just a risky one!” Allura smiled like it was a game, and at that moment Shiro was terrified.

“I’m not a toy, you know, I can’t be put back together if they decide to shoot my head off.”

Allura stopped, “If you are so fearful then why have you followed me this far? You could have easily turned back, yet here you are. Something tells me that some part of you wants to try, to finally have somewhere you are welcome.”

Shiro couldn’t make eye contact, “I-I don’t know…”

“I will not allow them to shoot your head off, because I’m going to sneak you in first,” she said pulling out a squid eggs shells.

They were named this due to their resemblance to squid eggs on a spear. They were a shell that could hold magic, often used by mer folk who had little to no magic. Shiro took ahold of one, he had never had to use one before. Allura grinned and pointed to it,

“I have enchanted it with a transparency spell! With it you will follow me into the palace and then once inside we wait for it to wear off, once that happens we seek my father for help. All you have to do is charm him with that amazing personality of yours,” she chuckled softly.

“You make it sound so easy,” Shiro said softly twirling the shell in his hands, “Not at all like I am risking my life or anything.”

“Don’t you wanna make a difference? Adam had to leave the city to be with you, don’t you wanna help future mer to not have to flee from their homes to be with someone they love?”

“You are going to hold that over me forever aren’t you?”

“Well it’s true isn’t it? He gave up so much, and he loved you. Please Shiro, do it for him.”

After a long pause Shiro crushed the shell, activating the transparency spell, “For Adam.”

Allura smiled, “Follow me closely, and don’t bump into anyone or anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the support!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Probably not as big of shock, but still Lance makes a huge choice

He awoke with a gasp. His gills, although not the most comfortable they’ve ever been, were surprisingly not killing him. Slowly opening his eyes he saw Adam sitting beside him. On the other side was Lance, dead asleep with a spray bottle still loosely being held in one hand. Adam was still gently spraying his gills, alternating sides to make up for Lance. Keith gulped lightly finding his throat relatively dry, he wanted to stretch his fins, if only he could have a little more room-

“How’s your side?” Came Adam’s groggy voice as he cleaned his glasses on his shirt.

Looking down Keith saw it had been hastily bandaged, but it covered his missing scale, “It doesn’t hurt, maybe more like I know it’s there and I can feel it, but no hurting.”

Adam smiled softly, “Good to hear, I was afraid you’d bite me if I tried while you were awake, so I hope it doesn’t upset you too much. Anything else wrong?”

Keith swallowed again and pointed to his throat, “It’s really dry.”

Adam opened a water bottle for him, then gently handed it to him, “You drink it, see like this,” he proceeded to take a drink from his own water bottle.

Keith copied Adam, swallowing a large gulp. Keith smiled, it not only helped his throat, but also made him feel cooler.

“We are close to a shore, but we need to sneak you out there.”

Keith nodded taking another drink.

“But we are waiting for dark, and for Lance to make up his mind.” The last part came out as more of an irritated mumble that caught Keith’s attention.

“What is he making his mind up about?”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” he paused, “You excited to get to see Shiro again?”

Keith smiled softly, “I am… are you coming back to the ocean?”

Adam gave a grim smile, “I honestly don’t know. I really hope I can, but you must understand that I haven’t been around real ocean water for quite some time. It might return me to my mer form, or it might not, I have no way to know for certain.”

“So you are going to try?”

“Of course.”

 

Well noon came and went with the speed of a snail competing with a rock in a race. However during this time he had examined his tail in the light. The spot where the harpoon hat snagged him was now dull and scarred, the spots where scales had been taken were also duller. He found himself not caring about his beauty as much anymore, just because he knew some death spells and could lure human or mer to their deaths, doesn't mean he would.  
Keith found that out of water it was extremely hot. Adam and Lance had to constantly be spraying his gills, and Keith alone had consumed two thirds of the water bottle supply.

“Just a couple more hours Keith, you’ll be alright,” Lance had said softly rubbing his back, “It’ll be nice and cool really soon.”

“Lance is right, you are fine, stop being a baby.” Adam had commented spraying Keith in the face with the squirt bottle.

 

When the sun did finally set Keith could barely contain his excitement, “Let’s go already, hurry up!”

“Give me and Adam a minute to check for anyone first.” Lance smiled and closed the van door.

Keith heard their voices and could barely make out what they were saying. 

“Adam, I’ll do it.”

“I’m happy to hear that, however we don’t know exactly what will-”

“I’m willing to take that chance.”

“Lance you know this means…”

No! Keith though they had lowered their voices. He waited and waited for what seemed like forever, then the door flew open and Lance’s welcoming face greeted him, 

“Let’s get you home mullet.”

Adam and Lance worked together to hoist Keith up and over Adam’s shoulder. He pushed himself up and gasped. Keith could see the water, oh how he’d thought this day would never come. Once they got close Lance took over and carried Keith until Lance was waist deep in the waves. After Lance let Keith go, he dove a little deeper into the ocean, feeling the freedom and water wash over his gills, it felt amazing. Then he resurfaced and looked at Lance, who was treading water near Keith, and Adam, who had made his way to a small boat dock near by. 

“Come on Adam, you know the deal,” Lance chuckled.

“Alright, alright, calm down,” Adam took one last deep breath and leaped into the water. At first nothing happened.

“Keith, do you think he’s ok? What if he hit his head or something attacked him?” Lance said trying his best to keep his head above the water.

“I’ll go check, but don’t worry, I’m the most dangerous thing out here-” was all Keith got out before he was dragged down. Above him he could hear and see Lance panicking, yet below him was a smirking beta mer in all his glowing, ripped fin glory. Giving Adam a quick smack on the head with his tail, Keith resurfaced first.

“It worked, Lance! Adam did it!” Keith cheered and helped hold Lanceabove the waves.

Adam surfaced next to Keith, Lance saw his eyes seemed to have a glow like Keith’s, an his ears were pointed, “Alright, Keith let go of Lance,” Adam smiled as Keith drifted away from Lance a bit, “And Lance, shatter the shell.” Adam grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him down again.

Lance crushed the shell he had in his hand, a bright light and water quickly surrounded him, forming a glowing blue cocoon. 

“What’s happening, Adam?” Keith shouted over the roaring of the water.

“He’s choosing you, Keith!”

“What?!”

When the light had dimmed to nothing and the water stopped swirling, where Lance was now a bright Quoy’s parrotfish mer. Two bright blue fins stuck out in the front of his tail, almost like where they would each be on his human thigh. He had a large tail fin that was also the bright blue, however this fin had a middle coloration where it was light green. His tail was beautiful, the pink, purple, and green appeared to be laced with each other, making a pattern. He was definitely an Altean mer. Despite his scales appearing like a parrotfish, that’s about where the resemblance ended. He didn’t seem to bothered by the cold waters either.

“So Keith, what do you think?” Lance smiled, and swam over to Keith.

Keith’s jaw was still hanging open, “I-You-Wait-What-Why!?”

“I want to be with you Keith, I like you a lot,” he chuckled nervously.

“Good, cause I like you a lot too,” Keith said as he smashed his lips against Lance’s.

“Alright enough of that.”Adam chuckled, “We gotta get outta here.”

“Lance, what about your friends? Your family? They need you.”

“I left hunk a magic shell Adam gave me, it will explain everything to them and where and when they can meet up with me,” Lance smiled, “Plus you’ve seen my shitty human world, now it’s my turn to see your world.”

Keith didn’t let go Lance’s hand as they all began to swim back to where Shiro and Adam had lived, or as Keith knew it Shiro’s cave.

“You don’t have to do this, Lance.”

“Of course I do Keith, I care about you so much.”

“I could have stayed on land with you. I’m sure there is a way, plus if Adam had a spell that did that, then he could-”

“No! Not after what humans did to you, after what I did to you.”

Keith held his tongue after that, swimming in silence. As they followed Adam, Keith only had to help Lance come to a stop once or twice.

“Say Lance, you are getting a hang of this pretty dang quick,” Adam smiled, stretching his arms coming to sit on an old rock.

“I did tons of swimming when I was young. Plus, it’s sorta embarrassing, but I was training to be a merman for a local aquarium. Well, before Zarkon and his lackies showed up.”

“A merman for an aquarium?”

Adam and Lance both turned to Keith.

“Yeah, like you entertain kids. It’s a lot different than being a real merman.” Lance chuckled softly, “And it’s hard to remember that I can breathe.” 

Adam chuckled, “Yeah it feels weird, but it sorta also feels nice to have fins again.”

Keith chuckled then looked to Adam, “How do you even know we are heading in the right direction?”

“I feel the pull plus I can smell him-”

“Wait! You can smell him? What are you exactly?” Lance said, his fins unintentionally flaring up.

Laughing Adam smiled, “He is mine, and I’m his, it’s a bond created between two who deeply love each other. I can feel the pull of him, pulling me to him! And the smell things because I really missed him and that’s his cave over there.” Adam pointed to a cave a little ways away.

“What are we waiting for?” Keith smiled

“He’s not there.”

Keith frowned, “What?”

“He’s not there, I smell him, but it’s just his things. My body is telling me to go back to Altea, that’s where he is.”

Lance watched as Keith started to get more worried, “Adam, he’s a predator, they would never let him near, if he’s there he is a prisoner-“

“Predator?” Lance asked softly.

“Means you kill other mer, Shiro is a shark mer. They are best known, in Altea that is, for attacking Altean mer and robbing them, sometimes of their lives.” Keith angrily growled, “Adam can confirm Shiro never hurt or stole anything!”

“Well he stole my heart, for what it’s worth,” Adam grinned.

Lance chuckled, he liked Adam. Keith groaned, “I hate you.”

Adam just smirked, “Sure you do, anyway, Lance don’t worry. Most predator just hunt fish, like Alteans do, only in some cases do people or mer get eaten.”

Lance smiled, “So what do you say? To Altea?”

Adam laughed, “To Altea.”

Keith just quietly grabbed Lance’s hand and swam beside him, trying not to think about what Altean guards would do to a siren.

 

——

Allura was greeted by Coran almost instantly as she swam inside the gates,

“Princess! You’ve been gone nearly all day and you didn’t inform anyone?”

“Oh Coran, I’m not a child, I don’t need to tell the guards everything.”

Shiro was doing his best to avoid everything, ‘just make it to Allura’s room’, he thought, ‘Yeah that’s not in the least bit suspicious.’

Coran accompanied Allura all the way to her room when they had stopped outside Coran reminded her of the diner with her father.

“Of course Coran, wouldn’t miss it for the world!” 

Coran, happy with the answer walked back to the main hall. Allura shut the door of her room, “All good Shiro.”

Without missing a beat he knocked into something, “Sorry, sorry.”

Chuckling Allura smiled, “Give it a little time! It’s wear off very soon.”

Shiro’s tail was the first thing to shimmer back into reality. When he was once again fully visible, Allura spoke up,

“Alright, let’s go see my father.”

“Allura, before we do, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for trying so hard to help me, to keep me going. Thank you for everything.”

“It’s no problem! That's what friends are for! Why are you telling me this now though?”

“Just in case I never get to say anything again.”

She shoved him, “Knock it off, you aren’t going to die.”

He chuckled, “Well princess, we shall see about that.”

They began to swim down the hallways, passing a few servants here and there who all stopped what they were doing to stare at the shark mer with the princess. It wasn’t until they reached the Altean dining room did they run into guards.

“Step away from the crown princess!” One had yelled trying to put himself between Shiro and Allura.

“Knock it off you two! He is my guest, and being so if you don’t let him through with me you will both receive the worst punishment I can conjure and be tried for betraying the crown! Do I make myself clear?!” Allura shouted back.

Shiro tried to hide his fear, he bowed to Allura, “Her highness has invited me to discuss a peace between our people.” Shiro smiled his kindest smile, “Please do forgive me for scaring you.”

Both guards looked beyond shocked, neither moved. Allura grabbed Shiro’s good arm and lead him through the doors, “See, not dead.”

“Not yet.”

She shot him an annoyed look. They approached the table, her father wasn’t there yet. She sat in the chair next to his and motioned for Shiro to sit near her. Hesitantly, he swam over and sat across from her.

“Allura!”

Allura looked behind Shiro’s head and saw her father swimming over.

“Father! It is great to see you,” she smiled, “I would like you to meet one of my dearest friends, Takashi Shirogane.”

Alfor turned towards Shiro, who was sitting with his hands in his lap, “Hello your majesty, I hope I am not interrupting too much.”

“Allura get behind me! What do you want predator?”

Allura rolled her eyes, “Father, stop this, he won’t hurt anyone.”

“That’s how they trick you, fake friendship, then they kill all those you love.” Alfor sneered.

Shiro looked up, “Alfor, please I wish to peacefully discuss relations between our people.”

“What makes you qualified for any of this? Other predators will not listen to you.”

“This may be true, but I came to show you that we have lived in peace. We can again, if you allow me to work with you.”

Allura spoke before her father could, “Mother would have listened, she always said, ‘Predators, Alteans, even the sirens all have culture, we shouldn’t discriminate because we don't fully understand,’ right dad?”

“I hate when you use your mother against me,” he looked to Shiro, “Fine we shall talk, but try anything and I will have you executed.”

“Of course sir, I understand.”

The cooks brought out all sorts of foods, most Shiro had never seen before.

“So why do you believe your people and my people can live peacefully?” Alfor inquired, taking a bite of something bright orange.

“Because,” Shiro gulped lightly, “I have done it.”

Alfor straighten up in his seat, “You have?

“Yes sir, I had an Altean boyfriend, he was the love of my life, but since I’m a shark mer we couldn’t live here. We had to move to the caves, they are a long swim from here, but he was happy and so was I.”

Alfor seemed more shocked than anything, of course Shiro was used to this any time someone heard of his Altean boyfriend.

“Well, you said he was the love of your life, what happened?”

“It was my fault sir, another shark mer challenged me, wanted me to go with him to help the sea witch. When I said no, my boyfriend got agitated, he was a beta mer after all. Then a fight broke out, I didn’t have time to stop it, it all happened so fast. Next thing I knew my boyfriends bloodied body was being dragged away.” Shiro gulped hard, reliving that nightmare was taking a toll on him.

“You realize you just proved why we cannot allow your people here, correct?”

Shiro’s head shot up, he hadn’t thought of that. Maybe they were all monsters. He had gotten Adam killed and Keith fishnapped, who knew what he would cause next. He was about to apologize when Allura got up.

“Father, he just proved that they have empathy. They care and love the same as us! So there’s a few bad water apples, we have them too!”

“Allura, a few bad water apples do not matter when a few is a huge amount, you know they have a large population! And what if we let a few in? Huh what about our people? They will be horrified and scared. There would be no safety from predators then.” Alfor looked to Shiro, “Perhaps you should leave.”

Shiro got up and guards took aim, he ignored them however. He bowed to Alfor, “Thank you for at least agreeing to listen, if nothing else. Allura, thank you, but as I told you this would never work.”

Turning away he swam towards the exit where a guard showed him to a back escape, leading away from the city and out of the site of the Alteans. He began his swim back to his cave, a heaviness in his chest when something hit him like a boat.

“...Adam?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are enjoying this book! And thanks to all for the support!!


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